Vance attacks Harris over Biden's abilities: She ‘lied about it’

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio — JD Vance used his first solo campaign appearance to attack Vice President Kamala Harris, claiming she “lied” about President Joe Biden’s condition ahead of “elite Democrats” in “smoke-filled rooms” pushing for Biden to leave the race.

“That is not how it works. That is a threat to democracy, not the Republican Party, which is fighting for democracy every single day,” Vance said from the auditorium of his high school in western Ohio. “This is not OK.”

Just one week after being named Donald Trump’s running mate, Vance received a hometown hero’s welcome at his debut solo campaign appearance after the presidential race had been turned upside down by Biden’s announcement Sunday.

In his first of two rallies Monday, Vance addressed a crowd of familiar faces — reminiscing about his teachers, telling stories about his family members and neighbors, and discussing at length with the audience the best place in town to get a doughnut. As Vance did in other public remarks since being tapped as Trump’s running mate a week earlier, on Monday he leaned into his rural roots, saying he represented people from “forgotten communities.”

But he also used the opportunity to hit Harris, whom Biden has endorsed for the top of the ticket.

“Kamala Harris lied about it, my Senate Democratic colleagues lied about it, the media lied about it,” he told the crowd. “Every single person who saw Joe Biden knew that he wasn't capable of doing the job. And for three years, they said nothing until he became political dead weight.”

Vance said he welcomed Democratic voters who are “disgusted” by the “smoke-filled” process to “come on in, the water is warm.”

He also hit Harris for talking about the United States “not with appreciation, but condemnation.”

“But if you want to lead this country, you should feel grateful for it, you should feel gratitude and I never hear that when I listen to Kamala Harris,” Vance said.

Shortly after being announced as Trump’s running mate, Vance and Harris had a “respectful” phone call. But as Democratic heavyweights coalesce around Harris and a contested Democratic primary appears unlikely, it remains unclear who Harris will pick as her running mate — and who Vance might have to square off against in a vice presidential debate.

“I was told I was going to get to debate Kamala Harris, and now President Trump's going to get to debate her. I'm kind of pissed off about that, if I'm being honest with you,” Vance joked.

Throughout his speech, Vance tied his life experiences to policies that, he explained, Trump was “right” about.

Vance recalled being a third-grader in 1994, and “this country gave a sweetheart trade deal to Mexico that sent hundreds of thousands of good manufacturing jobs, many of them in our communities, to Mexico.”

“We shouldn't have done it, and Donald Trump said it was a bad idea,” Vance said.

And he spoke of being an 18-year-old in 2003, when America went to war with Iraq and Vance enlisted after graduating high school. He said he was “wrong” to have supported the war but noted Trump was “right” to have not.

Vance, who did not speak from a teleprompter, also tried to give Trump a softer touch in his speech, talking about the former president’s interaction with his son on the phone when he was given the news that he’d be Trump’s vice presidential pick.

He also addressed his past criticism of Trump. “The media lies about this guy nonstop,” Vance said. “He is not the caricature or the lie the media has told you he is.”

After appearing at his old high school in Middletown located between Dayton and Cincinnati, Vance was set to travel to a rally Monday evening in Radford, Virginia, a conservative part of a state that the Trump campaign says could be competitive this fall. Trump and his advisers have pointed to blue-leaning states like Virginia, Minnesota and others as potential battlegrounds, though it remains unclear what impact Biden leaving the race could have.

Vance joined Trump for his first rally as vice president nominee in Michigan on Saturday.

In the aftermath of Biden’s announcement, the Trump campaign has scrambled to turn their attention to Harris. They have painted her as someone who deceived the public about Biden’s abilities and have continued to emphasize her role within the administration handling the border and immigration.

“I remember reading a lot of news articles about how Republicans and Trump are the party of chaos,” Bernie Moreno, who is the Republican nominee for Senate in Ohio, told POLITICO. “But the Democrats are in chaos, they are in DEFCON 1 Civil War.”

A line of eager Trump and Vance supporters wrapped around the high school ahead of the rally, with vendors selling freshly printed Trump-Vance merchandise along the side of the road. Vance, only 39 years old, grew up in Middletown, a town of over 50,000 people, which was the setting of his bestselling memoir about growing up poor and working class. Vance graduated from Middletown High School in 2003 before deploying to Iraq with the U.S. Marine Corps, then heading to Ohio State University and Yale Law School.

Vance put a spotlight on his hometown during this nomination speech at the RNC in Milwaukee last week when he talked at length about his humble beginnings, family members’ struggles with addiction and being raised by his grandmother, whom he called “Mamaw.”

He continued to share personal stories about his childhood and family at Monday’s event.

“I love this town, and I'm so grateful to have been formed by it because I wouldn't be who I was without it. And people will sometimes say well, you got a tough life,” Vance said.

“It was tough, but it was surrounded by loving people and surrounded by something that if we don't fight for, is not going to be around for the next generation.”

Susan Little, 72, from nearby Franklin, said she wanted to come see Vance speak because “I think we are losing the America we grew up in, and if we don’t take a stand and get involved, the country as we know it is going to be over.”

“We adore him, we think he is the great white hope,” Little said. “He grew up poor, he’s smart, went to Ohio State, he played by the rules.”

Her friend and former high school classmate, Sue Lewis from Middletown, said she feels “sorry” for Biden. “He needs to be on the front porch in a rocking chair instead of everyone laughing at him. I hope Trump and Vance address who is leading the country.”

At one point, Vance joked about many people in the audience being members of his own family.

Among them were Doug and Peggy McCarty from Hamilton, who said they are related to Vance’s stepmother, Cheryl, and came to see the kid they watched grow up.

“I knew God had his hand on him when he was little but it seems unreal,” Peggy McCarty said. “He would come out to stay with his dad and stepmom on the farm — they lived on a farm — he loved to be there.”

“He was a funny kid, he was a smart kid, he was a thinker,” said Doug McCarty.

The Trump campaign is planning to have Vance campaign heavily in Rust Belt states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, where they believe Vance’s personal story will resonate with voters. But he still has a lot of introductions to make to the general public. Recent polling has shown Vance is still relatively unknown among the electorate. A CNN poll taken before Vance was named the vice president nominee found 56 percent of respondents had never heard of the senator from Ohio.

Ohio GOP Chair Alex Triantafilou told POLITICO that even though the state has voted for Trump in recent presidential elections, Vance will help energize Ohioans to support Republicans up and down the ticket to “vote for their own.”

Vance, he said, “talks to the issues which is what this campaign needs to get back to. We should be talking about issues that the middle class cares about.”