JD Vance goes on the offensive at Wisconsin campaign stop
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — Rivals in the race for the White House barnstormed a key battleground state Wednesday afternoon.
The Harris and Trump campaigns held dueling events in Eau Claire. Each presidential candidate hopes to win over voters in a state won by less than 1% in recent elections.
At an airline equipment manufacturing plant, Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance called out Vice President Kamala Harris for not taking questions from the media.
Vance stood alongside Wollard International employees while he said Harris doesn't deserve a promotion, but instead deserves to be fired.
"She's running from the media, refusing to answer tough questions and hoping that a basement campaign is going to earn her a promotion," Vance said. "And I think we ought to say to Kamala Harris, 'You are fired.' Your policies didn't work, your agenda doesn't work and it's not what the American people want."
The Ohio senator took note of the fact that Harris' plane arrived at the same time as his and said that plane will be his in a few months.
He also accused "the Harris administration" of being soft on border protection, allowing dangerous fentanyl into the country.
In addition, Vance said things like food and gas have become too expensive while Harris has been vice president.
Vance also responded to Walz's frequent comments calling him and Trump "weird," attempting to turn the tables after the Harris and Walz rally Tuesday.
"I really do think that whatever Tim Walz calls me — I mean talk about weird with Tim Walz," Vance said. "I don't know if you guys saw the rally yesterday, but afterwards his wife comes up to him and Tim Walz does what any normal, Midwestern guy would do seeing his beautiful wife onstage after a speech, he gives her a firm handshake. Right, that's pretty weird. That's pretty weird. When I see my wife after a speech, I give her a hug and a kiss because I'm excited to see her and she's my wife. These people have no leg to stand on."
Vance also said Walz is not strong enough on public safety, pointing to the riots in Minneapolis in 2020.
After accusing Harris of not taking questions from the media, Vance took several, mainly from Wisconsin reporters in the Eau Claire area.
Roughly 12,000 people turned out to a rally in a rural area of Eau Claire on Wednesday afternoon to see Vice President Kamala Harris and her newly-minted running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz in their first appearance in the Midwest.