If Donald Trump wins in November, his veep pick could become the first vice president in nearly a century to wear facial hair.
Bearded Republican Ohio Sen. JD Vance, who was announced Monday as the ex-president’s running mate, is one of the few modern-day politicians who doesn’t favor the baby-faced look.
When Vance emerged in the public eye with his best-selling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” in 2016, he fell in line with norms and rocked the clean look.
But his beard was in full force when he was elected to the Senate in 2022, becoming one of the few politicians on Capitol Hill with facial hair.
Facial hair seemingly went out of favor for politicians in the mid-20th century.
Charles Curtis was the last mustachioed vice president in 1933 during his time under Herbert Hoover.
The last veep to sport a beard as hefty as Vance’s was Charles Fairbanks, who was Teddy Roosevelt’s second-in-command from 1905 through 1909.
There were rumors that Vance’s uncommon beard could have cost him his new title as Trump’s vice presidential pick — with GOP campaign insiders telling The Bulwark that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee “just doesn’t like facial hair.”
But Trump shot down the speculation last week, assurming Fox News Radio host Brian Kilmeade that the beard was fashionable on his running mate.
“He looks good,” Trump said. “Looks like a young Abraham Lincoln.”
Some research suggests that voters equate facial hair with personality traits that politicians want to steer clear of: aggressive, traditional and anti-feminist.
According to a 2015 survey by the Oklahoma State University, voters see men with beards and mustaches as being opposed to reproductive choice and “more supportive of gun rights, military spending, and the deployment of force” — all of which rings true for Vance.
