James David Vance (born James Donald Bowman) is an American politician, lawyer, veteran, and a New York Times bestselling author, who served as the junior United States senator from Ohio from 2023 to 2025. A member of the Republican Party, he currently serves as the Vice-President of the United States of America.

After graduating from high school in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio, Vance served from 2003 to 2007 as a combat correspondent, with six months in Iraq. He then attended Ohio State University, graduating in 2009. He graduated from Yale Law School in 2013. His 2016 bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy got significant press attention during the 2016 election and became a feature film in 2020. It describes his upbringing in the Rust Belt, poverty, drug addiction, and Appalachian culture.

Vance defeated Democratic nominee Tim Ryan in the 2022 United States Senate election in Ohio. Initially opposed to Donald Trump's candidacy in the 2016 election, Vance has since become a strong Trump supporter. On July 15, 2024, Trump nominated Vance as his running mate at the Republican National Convention. He was the first US Marine veteran to be nominated for vice president.