Analysis: JD Vance recounts ‘hillbilly’ roots but shows populist edge

Mr Vance, married to the daughter of Indian immigrants, quickly pointed out that the US welcomes “newcomers” – but with a key caveat.

“We allow them on our terms,” he said.

The newly minted vice-presidential running mate concluded with an extended description of his family burial plot on a mountainside in eastern Kentucky, where seven generations of his ancestors are interred.

He said that this kind of generational connection was the embodiment of a homeland that people would fight and die for – and it represents more than an abstraction.

“People don’t go and fight and die for abstractions,” he said. “But they will fight for their home.”

Time and time again in his speech, Mr Vance noted his Appalachian ties – through ancestry and history – and how many from the region migrated to work in factories in states like Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Those are the key electoral battlegrounds that could decide the upcoming presidential election – and part of the reason Trump picked him as his running mate.

But Mr Vance’s selection was also a re-emphasis of the core tenets of Trump’s political movement – on immigration, on trade and on energy policy.

When Donald Trump was president, his biggest wins involved corporate tax cuts and government deregulation. With JD Vance in his White House, however, it means that the next time around – if there is one – his policies could move in a decidedly more populist direction.

At the very least, on Wednesday night, Mr Vance set out just such a path ahead.