In a region of Wisconsin both campaigns are targeting , vice presidential hopeful JD Vance criticized Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris' track record on immigration, defended his claims that cats and dogs were being consumed in Ohio and blamed Democrats for the most recent assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump.
Vance on Tuesday made his second trip to Eau Claire and his fifth to Wisconsin. Western Wisconsin has been a frequent stop for the campaigns. Trump conducted a town hall meeting in La Crosse on Aug. 29. Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, rallied in Eau Claire on Aug. 7, the same day as Vance's first visit. Walz made a campaign stop in Superior last week. Harris is scheduled to be in Madison on Friday .
Here's what you should know about Vance's latest visit to Wisconsin.
Vance blames the media on Springfield, Ohio, pet-eating comments
When asked about whether he should have fact-checked the claim that migrants were eating dogs and cats in Springfield, Ohio, Vance said that it was the responsibility of the media to report on the real problems.
Some 15,000 Haitian migrants have settled in Springfield in recent years, straining services in a community of about 60,000 residents while also spurring economic and industrial progress.
"I've got residents of Springfield who are coming to me with a dozen different problems. They've been talking about it for months, or in some cases, years," he said. "The American media totally ignored it until they showed up to fact-check what some people were saying about pets."
But he refused to acknowledge whether the claim was correct or incorrect, even though several Springfield agencies have said they have not received reports of immigrants eating pets.
"The media has tried to say now for days that I've made up this story. I haven't made up anything," he said. "I've just listened to people who are telling me these things."
Later, he was asked if his rhetoric over migrants from eating pets caused bomb threats to be called in in Springfield. In response, he said the bomb threats were being called in from foreign countries, and again changed the topic to censorship.
"It's moral blackmail in the favor of censorship, and I reject it," he said.
Vance has spoken to Trump about abortion
During the debate last week, Trump was asked whether he would sign a federal abortion ban, something Vance had said Trump would do as president.
Vance said that he and Trump have talked about abortion but had not gone as far as speaking about a federal ban.
"We have discussed the topic of abortion many, many times," he said. "What we hadn't discussed is a ridiculous hypothetical of a federal abortion ban coming to his desk."
He called a federal ban "media bait."
"We shouldn't discuss things that aren't actually going to become law in this country. So when he says, 'I think that abortion should be a state's issue,' and he says 'I'm not backing a national abortion ban,' then that should be enough to end the discussion," Vance said.
Immigration issues were a big focus at the Eau Claire event
Asked about a key local issue in western Wisconsin — the closure of several hospitals and clinics — Vance blamed immigration as a driver of the problem.
When he was asked about what the Trump administration would do to address the closures, Vance said rural facilities such as those in western Wisconsin shut their doors because they were "bearing the burden of providing health care to millions of people who shouldn't be in this country to begin with."
"Now you might not think that rural health care access is an immigration issue. I guarantee it is an immigration issue, because we're bankrupting, bankrupting a lot of hospitals by forcing these hospitals provide care for people who don't have the legal right to be in our country," he said. "We've got to stop that. Kick these illegal aliens out, focus on American citizens, and we will do a lot to make the business of rural health care much more affordable."
Prairie du Chien used as an example of open-border policies
Vance also attacked Harris and Walz on immigration, calling out Harris' "open borders" and Walz's "sanctuary city."
He used as an example Prairie du Chien, where an assault by an immigrant with potential gang ties has been singled out by Republicans as an example of the Biden administration allowing dangerous people into the country at border crossings. U.S. Senate hopeful Eric Hovde and U.S. Rep. Derrick Van Orden have kept the issue in the press recently in interviews with Fox News.
"He went to this small Wisconsin town and committed sexual assault against a mother and a young child," Vance said. "He should have never been in this country, ladies and gentlemen, and when Donald J Trump is president, all of them are going home. We're going to deport the criminal migrants in this country."
According to information from Crawford County authorities, Alejandro Jose Coronel Zarate, 26, of Venezuela, was arrested in early September in Prairie du Chien after assaulting a person who was known to him. He was charged with domestic disorderly conduct, two counts of domestic battery, strangulation/suffocation, physical abuse to a child, disorderly conduct and two counts of second degree sexual assault.
Police found that Coronel Zarate had a warrant for his arrest in Dane County, and had ties to a gang in Venezuela, something police confirmed based on tattoos on his body.
Democrats criticize Vance's missed vote on IVF
In a call ahead of Vance's visit, Democrats slammed the Ohio senator's choice to skip a vote in Washington, D.C., on establishing a nationwide right to in vitro fertilization for those struggling to conceive a child.
U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois, one of the sponsors of the legislation, highlighted during the call that her two daughters were born thanks to IVF.
The bill was scheduled to be on the floor Tuesday afternoon, just hours before Vance was expected in Eau Claire.
"But we know exactly how he would vote, because he voted against this bill just a couple of months ago," Duckworth said. "Donald Trump and JD Vance have spent weeks lying about their records on IVF and pretending to champion this cause, but we know time and again, when given the chance, they'll never actually do anything to support IVF."
U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, also slammed Vance.
"He also wasn't here to vote on the Child Tax Deduction, after saying it was so important to support families with children," Stabenow said. "He was a no show, just like he's going to be today."
Trump has pledged to preserve IVF, announcing at a town hall in La Crosse earlier this summer that he wants the government or insurers to fully cover the cost of IVF treatmen t.
At the Eau Claire event, Vance called the bill "ridiculous."
"Did Kamala Harris and Chuck Schumer come together and produce a bipartisan bill? No, they shoved through a vote today knowing it would have no chance of passing because they wanted to be able to say, we support IVF and the other guys don't," he said. "But that's not a real support of IVF, that's political showmanship and I think Wisconsinites are sick of it. Let's do real legislation and real policy in this country, not these ridiculous show votes."
Vance blames political rhetoric for Trump assassination attempts
Vance said it was time for everyone to cool their political rhetoric, but especially Democratic politicians and campaigns. He pledged to do what he could to help tone down the heated atmosphere.
"I promise you that I will do my part to lower the temperature because we don't want anybody to get hurt in our politics, whether they're Democrats or Republicans," he said. "In the past two months, two separate people have tried to take Donald Trump's life. Yes, we need to tone down the political rhetoric, but that especially applies to the Democrats. Stop the craziness, stop the violent talk, and let Donald Trump go out there and make his case to the American people."
Vance's Tuesday appearances are his first since the second attempted assassination of former President Donald Trump, this time at Trump International Golf Club in Florida on Sunday. The attempt was thwarted when Secret Service agents walking the course ahead of the former president spotted a gun barrel in the bushes. The agents opened fire, causing the man to flee. Suspect Ryan Routh was arrested later that day, and appeared in federal court Monday.
Vance says western Wisconsin is important for campaign win
After speaking to supporters, Vance took questions from local reporters, the first being why he came back to Eau Claire for the second time in recent months.
"Wisconsin is one of the most important states in the country, and this is one of the most important parts of the state of Wisconsin, because we know that we're going to win a lot of voters here," he said.
"I've been in politics all of two years, but this is not rocket science. You do two things in a political campaign — you try to persuade swing voters, and then you try to get out the people that are going to vote for you. You try to make sure they get to the polls. And we're doing both things here today. We're trying to take a message to swing voters that it could be so much better."
Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on X at @SchulteLaura .
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Migrants, pets and a crime in Wisconsin. Takeaways from JD Vance's campaign stop in Eau Claire
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