What to Know
In 2024, Politico reported that it had been decades since a president or vice president had a beard. Enter JD Vance, whose facial hair is hard to miss, even though we’ve all come to expect it at this point. Before he became the vice president, it was assumed that he might shave, but he didn’t. Now, people wonder what he’ll do if he runs for president.
According to a post on X, Vance has to shave if he wants to be the president, because bearded candidates don’t do as well as candidates who are clean shaven. The only problem, of course, is that when Vance goes clean shaven, he looks like he would get carded at a theater for trying to see a PG-13 movie.
JD Vance might need to shave his beard if he wants to run for president.
JD Vance could never be president because historically bearded candidates always underperform and this is what he looks like without his beard pic.twitter.com/hk2ZW07r6P
— Slazac 🇪🇺🇺🇦🇹🇼🌐 (@TrueSlazac) April 15, 2026
According to the X post, “JD Vance could never be president because historically bearded candidates always underperform and this is what he looks like without his beard.” That’s not a legal requirement or anything, but a clean shaven and neat, professional look is often preferred over a candidate who might appear to be a wild card if he has facial hair.
According to Politico, Vance’s facial hair might make him seem more like an average Joe type of Midwest cornfed boy, though. And that could work in his favor. Clearly, he became the vice president despite several other VPs before him without beards. But the issue others see with Vance’s facial hair is how he looks without it.
On a Reddit thread about Vance’s beard, some users pointed out that he could become the first president in more than 100 years to sport facial hair, should he keep it that way, and should he run and get elected to the White House. Others just dogged on Vance’s face in general, because, why not?
“Something about his face makes me uncomfortable, but I can’t say exactly what,” someone commented.
Another user suggested to them, “The face of someone with no spine and no morals.” Ah, that must be it.
JD Vance without a beard is a little jarring.
JD Vance without his beard looks like he's about to steal Pee-Wee's bicycle. pic.twitter.com/gFUlrMbFLa
— MP Arizona☀️🏳️🌈💙🌵🐕🐕🦺🫂💦🏜🐟🌴🎙🌎🌻♍️🌊 (@AzPetrich) August 13, 2024
To be fair, Vance does look extremely different with the beard. There’s a reason why some see a beard as the perfect alternative for makeup for some men. It brings out something and hides other things. According to Vance’s critics, that’s the case for his beard. It does bring out those seemingly eyeliner-lined eyes, but we don’t need to get into that.
Someone responded to the X post to criticize Vance’s face without a beard. They wrote, “One chin, but it is continuous.”
Another person wrote, “The beard covers the low testosterone.”
“He always looks like he just got off a 14 hour shift at the sadness factory,” a user commented in response to the X post. “I bet he thinks his sleepless nights of existential dread are God speaking to him.”
Someone even harsher than others added in, “He looks like an actress wearing a man mask in some bad comedy where she has to pretend to be a guy to get a job or something.”
He didn’t always sport facial hair.
For some, Vance with a beard is all they’ve ever known. He didn’t start to really sport one until 2022, though. Before that, when he was promoting his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, he was often seen clean shaven. When he ran for U.S. Senate in 2022, Vance began to grow more facial hair. It does make him look a little bit more distinguished than the baby face he was walking around with before, so there’s that.
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