Latest Trump and Biden campaign ads spotlight JD Vance

Former President Donald Trump’s first official campaign ad featuring his vice-presidential pick is out — and so are the attack ads.

On the opening day of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Trump declared Senator JD Vance of Ohio as his vice-presidential candidate. That evening, they appeared together after Trump arrived in Milwaukee, which was his initial public appearance since the assassination attempt on Saturday.

Trump’s campaign released the first ad featuring Vance on Wednesday , the same day his vice-presidential pick is scheduled to address delegates at the convention.

More: RNC live updates: We bring you inside Day 3 of the Republican National Convention

Trump criticizes the several criminal charges he is facing and promises “to totally obliterate the deep state” in the two-and-a-half-minute video. It does not include an appearance from Vance but concludes with both candidates’ names on screen above the slogan “Make America Great Again.”

“They’re not coming after me. They’re coming after you, and I just happen to be standing in their way, and I will never be moving,” Trump is heard telling his supporters in the ad.

The Biden-Harris 2024 campaign also released its first ad addressing Vance’s place on the Republican ticket Wednesday. The one-minute video features Hadley Duvall, a woman from Kentucky who became pregnant at 12 years old after being raped by her stepfather.

“Trump and JD Vance don’t care about women. They don’t care about girls in this situation,” Duvall says in the ad. “They will continue to take our rights away.”

Vance, who has called to "end abortion" in the past, told CNN in December that Republicans must “accept that people do not want blanket abortion bans.”

The Lincoln Project, an anti-Trump Republican group, also released an ad Wednesday adding to the discourse surrounding Trump’s new running mate. The nearly two-minute spot combines a video of Trump reciting the lyrics to Al Wilson’s “The Snake,” a song he uses to illustrate his position on immigration , with anti-Trump comments Vance has made in the past.

“I’m a never Trump guy,” Vance says in the video. “I never liked him.”

Once critical of the former president, Vance went so far as to call him “America’s Hitler” in 2016, but has since said Trump has “changed his mind.”

Vice President Kamala Harris has agreed to three potential dates to debate Vance on CBS News. The Trump-Vance campaign has yet to accept the network’s offer, suggesting Wednesday its hands are tied because it doesn’t know who will lead the Democratic ticket amid pressure for Biden to drop out of the race.

Rachel Barber is a 2024 election fellow at USA TODAY, focusing on politics and education. Follow her on X, formerly Twitter, at @rachelbarber_

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Latest Trump and Biden campaign ads spotlight JD Vance