Trump picks running mate with eye on key Midwest battleground

Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, in his first comments, says China is the biggest threat to the US

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MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin - Former president Donald Trump has named Ohio Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate, settling on a politician who though young and untested has the credentials to scoop critical votes in a handful of battleground states, as well as take the Maga torch and Trumpism well beyond Trump.

Trump revealed his pick after a triumphant entrance to cap the first day of the Republican National Convention on July 16, receiving a raucous ovation from the party faithful days after surviving an assassination attempt on July 13 that has reshaped the presidential contest.

The former president walked into the Fiserv Forum in downtown Milwaukee to an uproarious response, his ear heavily bandaged from having been grazed by a bullet, hours after he was officially nominated to be the party's 2024 standard-bearer.

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" the crowd chanted while pumping their fists, a reference to Trump's own response in the moments after he was shot.

Uncharacteristically subdued, Trump waved from a box where he sat alongside Mr Vance.

Trump's decision to pick Mr Vance is an acknowledgement that the Nov 5 election will be won and lost in a handful of industrial Midwest battleground states, pundits say.

A native of Ohio, Mr Vance gained popular attention after the release of his best-selling memoir Hillbilly Elegy, which tells of his blue-collar upbringing and how it affected his politics and world view.

With his background, Mr Vance is well positioned to connect with and energise the kind of white, working-class voters who narrowly delivered those states to Trump in 2016.