00:00When I was asked to introduce my husband, J.D. Vance, to all of you, I was at a loss.
00:07What could I say that hasn't already been said before?
00:11After all, the man was already the subject of a Ron Howard movie.
00:15I met J.D. in law school when he was fresh out of Ohio State, which he attended with
00:19the support of the GI Bill.
00:22We were friends first because, I mean, who wouldn't want to be friends with J.D.?
00:27He was then, as now, the most interesting person I knew, a working-class guy who had
00:34overcome childhood traumas that I could barely fathom to end up at Yale Law School.
00:39My background is very different from J.D.'s.
00:43I grew up in San Diego in a middle-class community with two loving parents, both immigrants
00:54from India, and a wonderful sister.
00:58That J.D. and I could meet at all, let alone fall in love and marry, is a testament to
01:04this great country.
01:08When J.D. met me, he approached our differences with curiosity and enthusiasm.
01:15He wanted to know everything about me, where I came from, what my life had been like.
01:22Although he's a meat and potatoes kind of guy, he adapted to my vegetarian diet and
01:26learned to cook food from my mother, Indian food.
01:31Before I knew it, he had become an integral part of my family, a person I could not imagine
01:39living without.
01:42The J.D. I knew then is the same J.D. you see today, except for that beard.
01:51And his goals in this new role are the same that he has pursued for our family, to keep
01:55people safe, to create opportunities, to build a better life, and to solve problems with
02:02an open mind.
02:05It's safe to say that neither J.D. nor I expected to find ourselves in this position.
02:10But it's hard to imagine a more powerful example of the American dream.
02:15A boy from Middletown, Ohio, raised by his grandmother through tough times, chosen to
02:23help lead our country through some of its greatest challenges.
02:26I am grateful to all of you for the trust you've placed in him and in our family.
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