(Middletown) Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance made his first solo campaign appearance a day after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race for the White House.
The Ohio senator held a rally Monday at his former high school in his hometown of Middletown, where he highlighted his local roots, praised running mate Donald Trump and attacked Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, who now has more than half the delegates needed to win her party’s nomination, according to an Associated Press poll.
“I was told I was going to debate Kamala Harris and now she’s going to be debated by President Trump,” Vance said with a laugh. “To be honest, it kind of bothers me.”
Mr. Vance has tried to sidestep criticism that Mr. Trump, who has refused to accept his defeat to Mr. Biden in 2020 and has tried to overturn the results, poses a threat to democracy.
The senator said the real threat came from pressure from “Democratic elites” who “decided to throw Joe Biden overboard” and align the party behind a replacement without a primary election.
PHOTO JULIA NIKHINSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sen. J.D. Vance held a rally at his former high school in his hometown of Middletown on July 22.
Mr. Vance also appeared to question Ms.me Harris, saying that when she gives a speech, “she speaks about the history of this country not with appreciation, but with condemnation.”
“It’s not perfect. It never will be. But you, if you’re going to lead this country, you should be grateful. You should feel a sense of gratitude. And I never hear that gratitude come through when I listen to Kamala Harris,” he said, without giving any examples to support his assessment.
The line of attack against Mme Harris is reminiscent of criticism from former first lady Michelle Obama, who said during her husband Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential primary that it was the first time she felt truly proud of her country. Conservatives seized on the comment to paint her as unpatriotic. She countered that the comment was taken out of context and that she was talking about the election results, not the country itself.
Applause for Mr. Vance from a crowd of about 900 was more muted than at the raucous rallies Mr. Trump usually holds, though the senator drew a strong reaction when he endorsed Trump’s “America First” policy.
Threat of civil war
The Trump campaign intends to use Mr. Vance, who became the Republican vice presidential nominee last week, in Rust Belt states seen as key to Democrats’ path to the White House. That includes Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, as well as places where the senator’s blue-collar roots and populist views are likely to resonate.
As Republicans pushed a unifying message last week and decried inflammatory rhetoric following the assassination attempt on Mr. Trump, one of the first speakers to introduce Mr. Vance at the rally suggested the country could descend into civil war if Mr. Trump loses in November.
“I believe wholeheartedly that Donald Trump and J.D. Vance of Butler County are the last chance to save our country,” said George Lang, a Republican state senator. “Politically, I’m afraid if we lose this one, it’s going to take a civil war to save the country and it will be saved. It’s the greatest experiment in human history.”
Mr Lang later apologized after Harris’ team highlighted his remarks in a post on the X platform.
“I regret the divisive language in the heat of the moment on stage,” he wrote on the same social network. “Especially in light of the assassination attempt on President Trump last week, we should all be careful about what is said at political events, myself included.”
West Virginia Within Reach, Republicans Say
Mr. Vance’s second stop is in West Virginia, an area considered part of the Appalachian region. The campaign’s decision to send Mr. Vance there also signals confidence in their chances of winning the state, which has gone Democratic in every presidential election since 2008.
A CNN poll conducted in late June found that the majority of registered voters had either never heard of J.D. Vance or had no opinion of him. According to the poll, only 13 percent of registered voters said they had a favorable opinion of Mr. Vance, and 20 percent said they had an unfavorable opinion.
PHOTO JULIA NIKHINSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sen. J.D. Vance boards Trump Force Two at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport after a campaign event, Monday, July 22, 2024.
JD Vance has been in the Senate for less than two years. He has gone from being a harsh critic of Trump, at one point comparing him to Adolf Hitler, to a staunch defender of the former president.
After Mr. Vance was nominated as Donald Trump’s running mate, a surprising number of Republican delegates, who are typically party members and activists, said they knew little about the senator.
In his Ohio hometown, however, he was greeted as a local star.