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Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has chosen Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio to be his running mate, tapping a rising GOP star known for his 2018 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” as Trump takes on President Joe Biden in the White House race.

Vance brings experience in venture capital to Trump’s presidential bid, having worked in that field alongside influential tech XLK entrepreneur Peter Thiel.

“J.D. has had a very successful business career in Technology and Finance, and now, during the Campaign, will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond,” Trump said in a social-media post revealing his pick.

The former president also praised Vance for having served in the Marines, for graduating from Ohio State University and Yale law school and for writing “Hillbilly Elegy,” which was turned into a movie distributed by Netflix NFLX, +1.37%.

Billionaire Tesla TSLA, +1.78% CEO Elon Musk said in a social-media post that Trump had made an “excellent decision.” Musk, who endorsed Trump for president on Saturday after the former president was injured in a shooting, also said that a Trump-Vance ticket “resounds with victory.”

Biden’s re-election campaign attacked both Trump and Vance following the announcement.

“Billionaires and corporations are literally rooting for J.D. Vance: They know he and Trump will cut their taxes and send prices skyrocketing for everyone else,” Biden campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. She also said the Trump-Vance agenda “will take away Americans’ rights, hurt the middle class, and make life more expensive — all while benefiting the ultra-rich and greedy corporations.”

Trump’s selection of Vance could lead Thiel to fund Republican candidates again, an expert from one watchdog group, Jeff Hauser, told MarketWatch earlier this month. Thiel pledged last year to not give any money to GOP candidates for office in the 2024 elections, after having been a Vance donor in 2022 and a Trump donor in 2016.

Vance sees the “political opportunities in being skeptical of at least segments of big business,” so there could be some concern from those segments, said Hauser, who is the founder and executive director of the Revolving Door Project, an organization that tracks corporate influence on the executive branch.