President Donald Trump’s selection of J.D. Vance as his 2024 running mate cemented the political rise of a first-term senator and venture capitalist who captivated Rust Belt voters, Silicon Valley billionaires and the MAGA community.

Vance was sworn in as the 50th vice president of the United States on Jan. 20, becoming the first millennial and Marine Corps veteran to hold the office. He was the least politically experienced vice president in modern history, having served just over two years in the Senate before his election.

Vance, 40, rose to national prominence in 2016 with “Hillbilly Elegy,” his memoir about growing up in Appalachian poverty that became a bestseller and cultural flashpoint. Once a fierce Trump critic — he publicly referred to Trump as “cultural heroin” and privately as “America’s Hitler” — Vance reversed course ahead of his 2022 Senate run in Ohio, rebranding himself as a MAGA loyalist.

Trump’s endorsement helped Vance narrowly win the Republican primary, and he went on to defeat Democrat Tim Ryan in the general election. Ryan raised roughly four times as much in direct contributions, but outside spending favored Vance, though not as dramatically.

While critics accuse him of opportunism, Vance has become one of Trump’s most articulate defenders, praised by allies for giving ideological structure to the president’s grievances and promises. Robby Brod breaks down the numbers.

On April 10, the week after President Donald Trump announced his sweeping “Liberation Day” tariff plan, freshman Rep. Dave Min (D-Calif.) wrote to Speaker Mike Johnson with a demand: Force lawmakers to “immediately” and formally disclose any personal stock trades they had just made.

“The public has the right to know whether anyone in the Congress profited from the considerable market instability and economic chaos caused by President Trump and his administration over the past week,” read the letter, which was co-signed by five other congressional Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. (Johnson did not heed their request.)

“It would be unconscionable for any Member of Congress to use their personal position to benefit financially, especially in a time where Americans across the country are experiencing financial chaos,” the letter continued. 

But Min didn’t mention one detail, reports Dave Levinthal: He had personally dumped a pair of stock holdings, together worth up to $30,000, three weeks prior to Trump’s announcement, which temporarily slapped large tariffs on dozens of nations across the world and caused stock indices to crash. 

Not until the next week did Min file paperwork with the House of Representatives disclosing his own stock sales. While Min submitted the documentation within the mandated 45-day window, it was not “immediate.”

State budget plan requires disclosure of dark money spending. Critics say it's not enough (Cincinnati Enquirer)

The AI lobby plants its flag in Washington (Politico)

Lawmakers lobby doctors to keep quiet — or speak up — on Medicaid cuts in Trump’s tax bill (STAT)

With $122M spent, the 2025 governor’s race is already New Jersey’s most expensive (New Jersey Monitor)

Dan Crenshaw, once a Republican star, is now facing a growing list of challengers (Houston Chronicle)

Going in Crenshaw’s favor is his ability to raise big money. In 2020 and 2022, he raised a combined $35 million for his two re-election campaigns and claimed easy victories. Compare that to the average U.S. House member who raised about $5 million combined in those two years, according to data from OpenSecrets.org, which tracks money in politics. 

EPA Drops Legal Case Against the GEO Group, a Major Trump Donor, Over Its Misuse of Harmful Chemicals in ICE Facilities (ProPublica)

The firm was the first corporation whose political action committee “maxed out” on contributions to Trump’s presidential campaign. A subsidiary company, GEO Acquisition II, also gave $1 million to the pro-Trump PAC Make America Great Again. The GEO Group, its PAC and individuals affiliated with the company collectively contributed $3.7 million to candidates and political committees in the 2024 election cycle, compared with $2.7 million in 2020, according to OpenSecrets, an independent group that tracks money in politics. They donated overwhelmingly to Republicans: In every election cycle since 2016, at least 87% of their donations to federal candidates went to Republicans.

Crypto, Oil, and Tobacco Industry Donations Fueled Republican Super PACs (New York Magazine)

Koch Industries was one of the largest corporate donors to conservative super PACs over the past two election cycles, according to a Sludge review of data from OpenSecrets. Billionaire Charles Koch has not been in headlines as frequently as new Republican megadonor Elon Musk, but his company, known since last year as Koch Inc., has donated more than $70.9 million since the start of 2021 to conservative super PACs like Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Action, part of the political group founded and funded by its chairman and CEO Charles Koch. 

How Trump and Musk are still linked - despite falling out (BBC)

Over the course of the last year, Musk's donations to Trump and other Republicans have been enormous – totalling $290m (£214m) according to the campaign finance tracking site Open Secrets.

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