JD Vance’s faith memoir lands as 2026 looms

Vice President JD Vance’s new book, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,” traces his shift from Protestant Christianity to atheism and then to Catholicism—while coming out less than five months before the 2026 midterms that could shape his political futur

Vice President JD Vance is stepping back into the spotlight with a new book timed to a moment that matters politically, but built around something much more personal: his return to Catholicism.

“Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith” is due out Tuesday from Harper. with HarperCollins also publishing Vance’s 2016 memoir. “Hillbilly Elegy. ” the account that helped make him a national figure. The new book arrives after years in which Vance worked on it on and off following the publication of “Hillbilly Elegy. ” a turbulent stretch that included a Hollywood movie about his youth. a short stint as a U.S. senator from Ohio, and now his role as vice president to Donald Trump.

In “Communion,” Vance does not dwell on insider stories from his political years. Instead, he presents the book as a kind of manifesto for the role of religion in public life. He writes about moving from Protestant Christianity to atheism and then to Catholicism. crediting his faith with giving him a sense of purpose he says he didn’t find through his education at Yale University or his work in the financial industry.

The timing is impossible to miss. The book hits shelves less than five months before the midterm elections that will shape the final two years of Trump’s second presidency. Those midterms will also act as the unofficial start of the next presidential campaign in which Vance is expected to be a contender.

Vance writes about “the fusion between Republican politics and the Christianity of my youth.” He recalls hearing “a fair amount about the evils of abortion and homosexuality. ” along with then-President Bill Clinton’s “rumored moral failings.” He also describes what he saw as a break forming within the party—“the beginning of a fissure in the Republican Party: between its business elites and its religious rank and file”—and he says that shift would “eventually lead to my election as vice president.”.

At the center of his early religious story is his grandmother, whom he calls his mamaw. Vance writes that her death led to a gradual withering of his Christianity: “With her gone. no one really cared about my faith. and soon I stopped caring. too.” He says Christianity became “completely irrelevant” to him. including during his service in Iraq in the Marine Corps.

In writing about the end of his time in the military. Vance says that by 2006—when he says he completed his service—he “was no longer. in any real sense. a Christian.” He describes an experience after his grandmother’s funeral at his military base. saying he lost control of his car on a rain-slicked road. but “inexplicably stopped before hurtling into a guardrail and potentially over the side of a mountain.” He calls it “the closest I’ve ever come to a supernatural experience. ” and writes that the feeling remained even in later years when he described himself as a “strident atheist.”.

A colleague, he writes, introduced him to the work of author Ayn Rand as his military service wrapped up. He says Rand’s idea of the virtuousness of selfishness stood “in as stark opposition to Christian morality as anything I’d ever read. ” and that it appealed to him because it “filled a void left by the faith I’d discarded.” Vance writes that he became a “self-professed atheist and meritocrat.” He quotes his own mindset from that period: “I didn’t care about God’s will. ” he wrote. “I cared about my own.”.

His relationship with his wife, Usha Vance, also runs through the book’s personal timeline. Vance says he told a friend in law school that he thought he was “obsessed” with her. praising her “intensity. intelligence and curiosity.” He then wrote that he would either marry her or remain single for life: “I will marry this girl. ” he wrote. “Or I will be a lifelong bachelor.”.

In the same period. Vance describes how a discussion about death—sparked by Joan Didion’s “The Year of Magical Thinking”—reflected what he calls their different views of the afterlife. He writes that Usha. like Didion. “dreaded neither the ‘loss of heaven’ nor ‘the pains of hell’ for the most logical of reasons: She simply didn’t think they exist. ” while he came to believe in both but still didn’t find either motivating: “I came to believe in both. but I still didn’t find either particularly motivating. ” he wrote.

Vance also traces another influence: a talk he attended by Peter Thiel. the Silicon Valley investor who later became one of Vance’s early political backers. Vance writes that he was impressed by Thiel’s discussion of hypercompetition among professionals. paired with “technological stagnation.” He says Thiel “defied the simple social template I had constructed — that dumb people were religious and smart people were atheists. ” adding that Thiel was “possibly the smartest person I’d ever met” and “identified very openly as a Christian.”.

Then came “Hillbilly Elegy,” Trump, and fame. Vance writes that he was initially skeptical his first book would succeed. He describes an interview he gave in the summer of 2016 about “the sense that the hillbillies had been left behind by the leaders of a country. ” saying it caught fire as Trump’s campaign grew that year. Vance writes that “I became a controversial figure in my own right. and I tasted my first bit of heated public criticism.” He says he was “tempted by the flexibility” of “being a public intellectual. ” but that he chose a different path.

His path, later, brought him back to Catholicism. Vance writes that in 2018 he visited a French cathedral with his wife, Usha, and their young son, Ewan. He describes his growing ambivalence about religion fading. writing that he felt “a distinct sense of belonging and presence.” He says he was baptized a year later. and writes that he enjoyed the “work” required to become Catholic. including “readings and discussion.”.

As his political rise quickened, Vance wrote about the vetting process for vice president. He says he thought it was a “long shot” for Trump to choose him. “When his staff told me I was on the short list. I almost thought it was a prank call. ” Vance wrote. He also describes the in-person interview as the most fascinating part of the process. including being asked whether he had ever cheated on his wife. He wrote that he answered. “I haven’t. but I assume people who have don’t just admit it to a stranger?”.

Vance writes that the transition to the ticket was difficult for his family, especially his eldest child. He told Charlie Kirk—described in the book as the young conservative activist who founded Turning Point USA and was assassinated last year—about the struggle. Vance writes that Kirk responded: “Don’t try to convince your son it’s not a sacrifice.”.

The campaign past is not left behind, either. Vance’s “childless cat ladies” remark returned during the run. Critics resurfaced his 2021 comment that the Democratic Party was run by “childless cat ladies.” In the new book. Vance concedes his wording was “boneheaded” and “one of the dumbest things I ever said.” He adds that. “Aside from enraging a great number of people. ” the comment had an added effect: distracting from a point he says he wanted to make about a society “pathologically hostile to having kids.”.

With “Communion” landing months before the 2026 midterms, speculation is already circling ahead of 2028. The book’s release is likely to feed questions about whether Vance will seek the presidency. He has said he’s not focused on that right now and indicated he would wait until after the 2026 midterm elections to decide on a campaign.

Book releases before campaigns are a familiar pattern for presidential contenders. offering a burst of attention with an audience primed for a message. On the Democratic side. several potential 2028 contenders have recently published books or are expected to do so soon. including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and former Vice President Kamala Harris.

For readers, “Communion” offers a personal record of doubt, near-disaster, and a return to church life. For the political calendar, it lands at a precise moment—one that could shape how Americans start thinking about power in Trump’s second term, and who could be waiting in the wings.

JD Vance Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith Harper Hillbilly Elegy Catholicism Christianity atheism Usha Vance Trump vice president 2026 midterms 2028 presidential campaign Charlie Kirk Turning Point USA childless cat ladies