Vance became the 50th vice president of the United States as he was sworn in with his wife, Usha Vance, holding the bible and his mother, Beverly Aikins, watched closely with President Trump in the background.
He is the first Ohioan to be in the White House since the 1920s, and the first Buckeye to be vice president.
Many in attendance at the Middletown event were parents of the Middletown High School band. Vance invited the Middletown Marching Band to attend the inauguration, and though they won’t be featured in the now-canceled parade due to the frigid weather, they are in D.C. and ready to perform at Capital One Arena later this afternoon.
JD Vance is sworn in as vice president, a meteoric rise for a man who was elected to the Senate in 2022. Follow live updates. https://t.co/UIslyUtUNd pic.twitter.com/ql2AMuyo9O
— CNN (@CNN) January 20, 2025
Rebecca Johnson is the mother of Brianna Johnson, a 16-year-old member of the band’s color guard, called the opportunity “amazing” and is “grateful.”
Johnson said her daughter was hesitant at first because she had never been out of town away from family, but “she’s very excited.” She said she’s “emotional” and “nervous.”
“She’s going to remember this and will tell my grandkids and great grand kids,” said Johnson, who was a freshman when Vance was a senior at Middletown High School.
Berachah Church lead pastor Lamar Ferrell said he was asked to host a watch party for band parents.
“It’s truly a remarkable and wonderful day, a historic day,” said Ferrell, who was once a band parent when his kids attended Middletown High School. “I cannot imaging how these parents are feeling. They must be so incredibly excited.”
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Credit: Michael D. Pitman
Jarred and Suzannah Esselman are members of Berachah Church and watched the inauguration to support Vance, as well as the Middletown marching band.
“It’s great that a local guy has gone that far,” Jarred Esselman said, who was a few years behind Vance at Middletown High School.
Vance is an inspiration to the next generation, the attendees said.
“I think it’s great to show kids that you can come from a rough background, but by putting in the work, you can achieve great things,” said Suzannah Esselman said. “That’s the American Dream.”
Vance is the first president or vice president since the 1920s to have facial hair. The newly minted vice president sported a neatly trimmed beard when he stood beside his wife Usha Vance as he took his oath of office from U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh, minutes ahead of President Donald Trump taking his oath from Chief Justice John Roberts.
Former President Harry Trump had a goatee in 1948 when in office, and former President Herbert Hoover’s vice president, Charles Curtis, was the last VP to have facial hair, a mustache in 1929, as reported by CBS News this past July.
Other presidents and vice presidents with facial hair includes President Ulysses S. Grant and his Vice President Schuyler from 1869 to 1873 who had full beards. Thomas Marshall, the vice president to President Woodrow Wilson from 1912 to 1916, sported a mustache.
Vance is, at this time, the presumptive frontrunner for the 2028 GOP presidential nomination, according to several political pundits and media outlets. Trump is constitutionally ineligible to seek a third term.
Donald Trump Jr. said during the campaign, “We are getting four more years of Trump and then eight years of JD Vance,” according to Fox News in a December report.
But it’s not a guarantee a vice president is promoted by voters to the presidency. Only 15 vice presidents have become president.
President Joe Biden was the last person to be vice president and ascend to the presidency, however, it was four years after he held the second-highest job in the executive branch. President George H.W. Bush was the last to win a presidential election immediately following his vice presidency.
“Vice presidents are pretty successful at gaining their party’s nomination for president,” John McGlennon, a professor at William & Mary university in Virginia, told History.com. “But they’re less successful at actually winning elections.”
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