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JD Vance has a new book about his religious faith, ‘Communion,’ coming out later this spring

Vice President JD Vance has a new book coming out that will explore his religious faith and his conversion to Catholicism as an adult.

“Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith” comes out June 16, the HarperCollins Publishers imprint Harper told The Associated Press on Tuesday. HarperCollins also released “Hillbilly Elegy,” the million-selling memoir from 2016 that helped make Vance a national figure.

“The story of how I regained my faith, of course, only happened because I had lost it to begin with,” Vance, 41, said in a statement.

“The interesting question that hangs over this book, and over my mind, is why I ever strayed from the path. Why the Christian faith of my youth failed to properly take root,” he wrote.

The announcement Tuesday is likely to ramp up speculation that Vance will seek the presidency in 2028 — a possibility the Republican vice president has said he’s not focused on right now, indicating he’d wait until after the 2026 midterm elections to decide on a campaign.

Presidential hopefuls often, though not always, release books before launching a campaign, giving them a moment in the spotlight before new audiences and a chance to crystallize their message embarking on a campaign. Already, potential 2028 candidates on the Democratic side have published books or are planning to roll them out this year, including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

Vance wrote the 304-page “Communion” himself, according to his publisher, working on it off and on since 2019, and it will include material on his time in politics. Vice presidents from Walter Mondale to Mike Pence have published books, but Vance would be the first in recent memory to do so while in office.

In 2022, HarperCollins told the AP that Vance had set aside a planned religious memoir. Some of “Communion” is drawn from that project.

Vance has said he evolved from Christianity to atheism to Catholicism. He converted in 2019 and credits his new faith with giving him a sense of purpose he didn’t get through his education at Yale University or working in the financial industry.

“Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance’s memoir about his rural roots, was widely read upon its publication and only grew in popularity after Republican Donald Trump’s stunning presidential victory in 2016, when Democrats sought out the book as a way of understanding Trump’s appeal. Ron Howard adapted “Hillbilly Elegy” into a 2020 movie starring Glenn Close and Amy Adams.

Vance initially was a critic of Trump but became a close ally. He was elected to the Senate as a Republican from Ohio in 2022 and was chosen two years later by Trump as his running mate, becoming the youngest vice president since Richard Nixon served under President Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s.

The news about Vance’s book followed Monday’s announcement by his wife, Usha Vance, that she has started a podcast called “Storytime with the Second Lady” to promote reading among children.

The Vances have three young children, and Usha Vance is pregnant with their fourth, a boy due in late July.

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Associated Press writers Michelle L. Price and Darlene Superville in Washington contributed to this report.

Grandfather recovering from surgery after bison attack at Yellowstone sent him flying

By WTOP Staff
(CNN) — What started as a yearly trip for a grandfather and his grandson turned into a visit to a Montana hospital after a bison attack at Yellowstone National Park.Carl McDaniel, 65, was hospitalized with a broken femur after a bison charged and tossed him into the air Friday evening at the park’s Bridge Bay Campground, according to McDaniel and the National Park Service.He was visiting the park with his 13-year-old grandson when they decided to take a walk after dinner.Along the way, they encountered a large bison that appeared to be rolling around in the dust and was not bothering anyone, McDaniel told CNN.“We were about a hundred yards away,” McDaniel said. “He was not aggressive; he was not having problems and we took some pictures and decided to walk on.”McDaniel and his grandson snapped a quick photo and continued with their walk, video of the encounter shows. At the same time, a truck drove by, and the driver laid on his horn in what appeared to be an attempt to get the bison to move, McDaniel said. There is no audio on the video.The bison then appeared to become agitated and began running toward the pair.“There was little time to decide what to do. At that point, he was within 100 yards; he could be to us in seconds, so I told my grandson to run in one direction and I went the other to try and draw him away,” McDaniel said.The animal then pushed McDaniel with the top of its head, sending him flying into the air before he hit the ground, the grandfather said.“When I was on the ground immobile, unable to move, he was right on top of me. He could have stomped on me, he could have gored me, he could have done almost anything to take my life, and he did not do so,” McDaniel said.After McDaniel hit the ground, photographer Mike MacLeod, who captured the encounter on video, had to step in, he told Cowboy State Daily.“I was really afraid he was going to gore the guy on the ground, so I stopped videotaping and ran at the bison, yelled loud, and was trying to be as big and intimidating as possible,” MacLeod said.After the bison took off, people rushed over to McDaniel, who was in a lot of pain, MacLeod told Cowboy State Daily. Yellowstone EMS arrived soon after, he said.“Park emergency medical personnel responded and transported him to a nearby hospital,” the National Park Service said in confirming the incident in a statement to CNN.This is the second bison attack at Yellowstone this year. A 12-year-old was injured near Mud Volcano on June 26, according to the agency.After Friday’s attack, “all the people that were there were amazing; they were all positive, they were trying to help as best they could,” McDaniel said. A nurse started tending to his leg, while another bystander held his head.He was then transferred to a hospital in Bozeman, a two-hour journey during which he was in intense pain. He said he was grateful for the paramedic who helped him along the way.McDaniel broke his femur, the body’s strongest bone, in four places near his hip and suffered several bruises. He had surgery Sunday and could stand by Monday.“I will be doing physical therapy for the next few days to get to walk, but it was not as catastrophic as it could have been,” McDaniel said.The National Park Service advises visitors to stay at least 25 yards away from bison at all times and to never approach the animals. “If the bison follows you, spray bear spray as you are moving away, and seek cover behind nearby trees or cars,” the agency said.Correction: An earlier version of this story understated how far visitors should stay away from bison. The National Park Service advises visitors to stay at least 25 yards from them.The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
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