Detroit attorney and ex-friend of JD Vance says her 'heart breaks' at his political transformation

Detroit attorney and college friend of JD Vance disappointed in his political shift

Sophia Nelson said the JD Vance from the recently surfaced news clip is not the same person she remembers from Yale a decade earlier.

DETROIT (FOX 2) - A former friend of Republican vice president nominee JD Vance is sharing details about the Ohio senator's past.

Sophia Nelson is a public defender in Detroit and coming forward with emails dating back to 2014.

"We’re effectively run in this country via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies, who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made," Vance said in a 2021 interview with former FOX News host Tucker Carlson.

Nelson said the JD Vance from the recently surfaced news clip is not the same person she remembers from Yale a decade earlier.

"It breaks my heart because I think his transformation is reflective of the collapse of decency in our politics," Nelson said.

While the republican vice presidential candidate has recently said his comment from three years ago was about the Democratic Party being "anti-family" and not an attack on childless women, Nelson says it speaks to Vance becoming — what she describes as — a "political chameleon."

"JD Vance never used to speak in those terms," Nelson said. "He was a kind person which I think is indicative of you know how we’re raised here in the Midwest to treat people with kindness, and he’s totally abandoned that in order to advance his career."

FOX 2: "Do you think any shred of the JD Vance that you knew and had a friendship with still exist?"

"I don’t live in JD‘s head and we don’t communicate anymore," Nelson said. "I certainly hope so."

Nelson, a Detroit attorney who is transgender, sat down with FOX 2 to talk about her now-broken friendship with Vance.

The two met at Yale and bonded over being Midwesterners at an East Coast Ivy League school.

"We like to joke about the Ohio State-Michigan rivalry, normal things, right? But we are both deeply curious about the world and trying to understand different points of view," she said.

That curiosity was evident in a series of emails between the former friends from 2014 to 2016 which Nelson shared with FOX 2.

The conversations included gaining an understanding of marginalized groups in America and then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s divisive rhetoric.

The back-and-forth highlighted Vance’s then-anti-Trump stance.

Sophia Nelson says in 2021 their friendship changed.

"When he started speaking very clearly about trans and LGBTQ people and I confronted him about it and we had a pretty bitter exchange and that was the end," Nelson said. "Because I can have friendships across those political differences, but when you start name-calling and then questioning my right to exist, and access healthcare, that’s where I have to draw the line."

FOX 2: "Why sit down now and share this?"

"This was a very difficult decision for me one because despite all of this, I feel some sense of loyalty to him as a friend still and I do care about him and his wife and their family," Nelson said. "However, I think this is a crucial election, and I felt that the American people deserve to know the depth of his flip-flops so they can make their own determination about whether he has integrity and is trustworthy, not just his changing on every conceivable issue, but his changing persona and the way he talks about people."

A spokesperson for JD Vance responded to Nelson's accusations with a statement, explaining that the candidate's views on Trump have evolved over the years.

"It's unfortunate this individual chose to leak decade-old private conversations between friends. Senator Vance values his friendships with individuals across the political spectrum. He has been open about the fact that some of his views from a decade ago began to change after becoming a dad and starting a family ... Senator Vance cares for Sofia and wishes Sofia the very best."