PHILADELPHIA – U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), making his first visit to Pennsylvania as former President Donald Trump’s vice presidential candidate, blamed Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris for crime and economic problems he said stem from the Biden administration’s border policies.
At a rally where Vance took questions from reporters Tuesday in South Philadelphia, Vance also criticized Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, whom Harris had announced hours earlier would be her vice presidential running mate.
Vance said Walz’s record on transgender health care, protecting American jobs and handling civil unrest in Minneapolis following the killing of George Floyd by a city police officer will not endear him to Philadelphia voters.
“Do you think black business leaders in Minneapolis are grateful, that working-class business leaders are grateful that Tim Walz allowed rioters to burn down their businesses?” Vance said when asked for his thoughts on Harris’ selection. “There’s no way the American people are buying that.”
Kamala Harris to Campaign with Vice Presidential Candidate Walz in Philadelphia
Vance said Harris’ decision to run against Walz is an example of what he and Trump have described as her “dangerously liberal” policies.
“Whenever she has the opportunity, she caters to the most radical elements of her party. That’s what she did here. That’s what she’ll do as president,” Vance said.
Vance, who built his brand on his working-class upbringing in rural Appalachia, was billed as a vice presidential candidate whose story would resonate with voters in swing states like Pennsylvania and Michigan.
Addressing a crowd of about 350, Vance spoke about his childhood with his mother, who struggled with addiction and is now approaching 10 years in recovery, saying he prayed for her to wake up after an overdose. Early in his speech, Vance allowed two local families who had struggled with addiction to share their stories of pain, hope and ultimate loss.
Denise Trask, with her husband Mike by her side, spoke about the death of their daughter Jackie, who died of an overdose of heroin laced with fentanyl after she relapsed after two years in treatment.
“The fentanyl that is flooding our country, our cities and our neighborhoods is killing thousands and thousands of people every single day,” said Denise Trask. “We are losing our loved ones at an alarming rate.”
Overdose deaths in the United States, including those caused by opioids and synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, reduced by 3% to 107,543 in 2023, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although Trump and other Republicans blame U.S. border policies for enabling drug trafficking from Mexico, fentanyl enters the United States through U.S. ports of entry from a variety of sources, including China, India and Canada, according to U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
“I have to admire the courage of the two families behind me, but I have to ask, why is this necessary? Why are they suffering?” Vance asked. “The answer is because we have leadership that is failing.”
Vance on Tuesday said Harris was responsible for efforts to “open the southern border.”
“I want leaders to make our streets safe, where our kids can make mistakes without risking their lives. I want a nation where leaders put the interests of our citizens first, and I want Donald J. Trump back in the White House,” Vance said.
Republicans falsely call Harris Biden administration’s ‘border czar’ according to the independent, nonprofit political watchdog FactCheck.org. Harris was actually responsible for diplomatic mission to the countries from which migrants originate and through which they move, to address the root causes of migration and improve border enforcement in those countries.
Because Pennsylvania is considered a must-win state for both parties, Trump’s campaign said it would “park” the first-term senator in Pennsylvania for the final months of the campaign.
Harris spoke Tuesday night at Temple University’s Liacouras Center arena, where she formally introduced Walz. Vance’s schedule this week closely aligns with Harris’s, as both are scheduled to speak in Wisconsin and Michigan later this week.
Noting that Harris has not given a single interview since President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign ended on July 21, Vance said his strategy would be uncomplicated.
“We know that six or seven states are going to decide this election. We think it’s shameful that Kamala Harris is running away from the tough questions from the media,” Vance said. “So I will go to every single state where the outcome is uncertain and I will answer the tough questions and talk to people because that’s the least you have to do if you want to be president or vice president.”
Trump lost the 2020 election in Philadelphia by 64% of the vote, though he won more than a dozen precincts in traditionally working-class South Philadelphia as well as other parts of the city.
Harris campaign officials said Monday that Vance’s appearance was unlikely to soothe voters in Philadelphia.
“Philadelphia voters rejected Trump in 2020 because he failed them as president, serving during a period of record-high unemployment, overseeing the highest level of gun violence in history in Philadelphia, and skyrocketing uninsured rates while handing out massive welfare checks to billionaires and large corporations,” Pennsylvania campaign spokesman Jack Doyle said in a statement.
Doyle said Pennsylvania voters will reject the Heritage Foundation Project 2025, which has been described as a deeply conservative blueprint for the transition to a second Trump administration. Vance sought to distance himself from the 1,000-page document and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts last week after the Associated Press reported that Vance had written a foreword to Roberts’ upcoming book, “Dawn’s Early Light.”
Trump claimed, that he has nothing to do with Project 2025 and does not know its authors, but CNN reported that at least 140 people who worked in the first Trump administration participated in preparing the document.
Vance, a venture capitalist and author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” a memoir about growing up in a troubled small-town Ohio family, entered politics as a staunch Trump critic. Vance described himself in 2016 as “Never Trump” guy and the former president was called a “cultural heroine” for making empty promises to solve the country’s problems.
When Vance ran for the U.S. Senate in 2022, his views had evolved enough to overcome suspicions among members of his own party and win support from national GOP groups that funded his campaign. He defeated Democratic U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan and rose above his Senate novice status as a staunch supporter of Trump’s policies in Congress.
Update: This story was updated at 2:00 p.m. on August 6, 2024, and then at 4:40 p.m., with additional details from the rally.
