Vance will make his mark as the first millennial vice president and the potential MAGA torchbearer

NEW YORK — As he prepares to become the nation's first millennial vice president, JD Vance is already the presumptive heir to the ''Make America Great Again'' movement.

Vance hasn't been assigned a specific portfolio in the White House like some of his predecessors. While he has long-standing areas of interest, from tech and disaster relief to immigration, people close to the former Ohio senator say he sees his role as doing whatever is needed to best help President-elect Donald Trump and his incoming administration accomplish his agenda. He is also expected to be a liaison to Capitol Hill, leveraging relationships he built during his two years in the Senate.

''I would say JD's the guy that will plug any hole or be as beneficial to the administration and be as beneficial to President Trump as possible,'' said Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, a friend and ally.

Moreno said Vance would also continue the role he played during the campaign as Trump's chief messenger, defending him on television and jousting with reporters.

"His most important job is to be out there and be President Trump's pit bull,'' said Moreno. When Trump needs somebody to defend him or his policies, he added, ''JD's going to be the guy that leads the troops to have President Trump's back.''

It has been an astounding eight years for the 40-year-old ''Hillbilly Elegy'' author, who has transformed himself from a former venture capitalist and harsh Trump critic. Vance will be a critical part not just of Trump's return to the White House but the future of his political movement. With Trump prevented by the Constitution from running in 2028, Vance is a natural successor.

But first, he needs to stay in Trump's good graces.

Vance overcame a rocky start

Trump's decision to tap Vance as his No. 2 landed with a thud at first.

Vance faced a barrage of criticism over his past remarks deriding women who weren't parents as ''childless cat ladies'' and for suggesting those without biological children should not be in positions of power. Headlines panned him as the least popular vice presidential candidate in modern history.

But Vance soon delivered a widely praised performance during the vice presidential debate and established himself as a top Trump surrogate, someone who regularly answered reporters' questions and sat for interviews with outlets of all stripes. He once appeared on three Sunday shows in a single day.

Vance's willingness to wade into sometimes hostile territory earned Trump's praise.

''He is a feisty guy, isn't he?'' Trump said during his victory speech the night of the election, describing how he had instructed Vance to ''go into the enemy camp." While some Republicans might have resisted going on CNN or speaking with The New York Times, Trump said, Vance "really looks forward to it, and then he just goes in and absolutely obliterates them.''

Vance, he added, ''turned out to be a good choice. I took a little heat at the beginning, but he was — I knew the brain was a good one, about as good as it gets."

A cautionary tale

Things didn't go so well for Trump's last vice president.

Mike Pence, who was unfailingly loyal to his boss, ended his term fleeing from a violent mob on Jan. 6, 2021, after he refused to go along with Trump's scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election he lost to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump would not forgive Pence, blaming him for their loss, and turned legions of his supporters against his second-in-command. Pence would end his own bid for the 2024 nomination months before the first votes were cast after struggling to raise money or draw significant crowds.

''Pence and Trump started off on this same footing, with the same high expectations, and had a great working relationship,'' said Devin O'Malley, the vice president's former press secretary and senior adviser to his campaign. O'Malley stressed that he did not expect things to end up the same way for Vance, whom he said ''appears to be hitting all the marks to be successful in the role.''

While Trump and Pence were always said to be close before their split, they had very different personalities. Trump picked Pence, someone he barely knew, in part to assuage evangelical Christians alarmed over Trump's behavior and to win over other Republicans skeptical of his outsider candidacy.

Aides have long described Trump and Vance as real friends who enjoy each other's company. The two speak almost every day on the phone, in person or by text.

Unlike Pence, Vance is also ideologically aligned with Trump on major issues ranging from trade to the use of U.S. forces overseas. He is close to Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and has developed strong relationships with incoming chief of staff Susie Wiles, senior adviser Stephen Miller and others.

He also has ties to the new generation of tech billionaires ascendant in Trump's orbit, including Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, who once employed Vance and backed his rise in politics.

While 2028 is years away, Vance for now is seen by many as the natural torchbearer for the MAGA movement, even as other Republicans with national ambitions circle nearby.

Senior Trump adviser Jason Miller called him ''the future of the Republican Party and this movement that President Trump has started.''

''I really see him as being the person to be the flag bearer going forward, following President Trump,'' he said at a recent gathering of business leaders.

A new generation takes power

When he is sworn in on Monday, Vance will make history as the first millennial to serve in the role and the first vice president in nearly two decades with young children.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., recently traveled with Vance to North Carolina to meet with victims of Hurricane Helene. She suggested his relative youth on the national stage gave Vance certain advantages including a comfort with social media and different communication style.

''I think because he is younger he has a boldness that – with the exception of President Trump – as you age, your boldness I think becomes shade by lessons learned over the years,'' Capito said.

People close to Vance like to stress that he is a regular person — ''about as normal a guy as there's ever been in politics,'' Moreno said — with a working-class background.

''He'll wear sweatshirts. He roots for sports teams... He's a guy's guy. He's a bro's bro," said Terry Schilling, president of American Principles Project, who has been advising Vance informally on cultural and family issues since he started running for the Senate. "He'll have a beer with you. He'll watch a football game with you. He'll tease you, he'll rib you. He's also going to work hard and be serious when he needs to.''

Indeed, after his beloved Ohio State clinched a spot in the national football championship game, Vance took to social media to bemoan his dilemma. The Buckeyes play Notre Dame for the title in Atlanta on Monday night, hours after he and Trump are set to be sworn into office.

''Hopefully everyone is cool with me skipping the inauguration so I can go to the national title game,'' Vance joked on X, sharing a mock comic strip featuring two red buttons — ''Attend your own inauguration'' and ''Go watch the Buckeyes win a national title'' — and a sweating superhero torn between them.

It was the kind of quip relatable to any sports fan and the latest burnishing of his regular-guy persona.

But Vance is scheduled to stay in Washington — even if he'll be checking his phone at the Liberty Ball.