- JD Vance spoke to supporters in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio on Monday
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Sen. J.D. Vance held his first solo campaign event Monday after being selected as Donald Trump’s running mate, blasting the Democratic elite for the way they catapulted Kamala Harris into the presidential race.
He returned to his hometown of Middletown, Ohio, where he showed off the attack-dog style that won Trump over.
He accused Harris of lying about Biden’s fitness for office because he wanted to portray his party as the party of democracy.
“The idea of selecting the Democratic Party nominee because George Soros and Barack Obama and a few elite Democrats sat in a room full of smoke and decided to throw Joe Biden overboard… That’s not how it works,” he said.
“That’s a threat to democracy…not to the Republican Party, which fights for democracy every day.”
JD Vance holds his first solo campaign event after becoming Donald Trump’s running mate in Middletown, Ohio, where he ran against Kamala Harris
Harris has been nominated by party leaders and influential players to succeed Joe Biden after the president stunned the world on Sunday by announcing he would not seek re-election.
The move is a gift to Trump’s campaign, which has been repeatedly criticized by Biden for endangering American democracy.
Trump and his allies could accuse his opponents of staging a party coup.
Vance, 39, portrayed Harris as arrogant and spoiled, saying he was disappointed that he was now unlikely to face her in the vice presidential debate.
“I was told I was going to debate Kamala Harris and now President Trump is going to debate her,” he said. “I’m pretty pissed about that.”
Trump’s campaign wants to take full advantage of Vance’s troubled upbringing in Ohio and deploy him in the Rust Belt states that will play a key role in the Democrats’ path to the White House.
He joined the Republicans’ attack ploys and ads that portrayed Harris as a pillar of Biden’s support when he was in decline.
“Kamala Harris lied about it. My Democratic colleagues in the Senate lied about it, the media lied about it,” he told the crowd. “Anyone who saw Joe Biden knew he was not capable of getting the job done.”
Vance took the stage with his wife Usha, a driving force in his political awakening
Supporters line up for Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance’s (R-OH) rally at Middletown High School in his hometown of Middletown, Ohio
He said he and Trump were grateful for the opportunity to serve.
“If you want to lead this country, you have to be grateful for it. You have to feel a sense of gratitude,” he said.
“And I never hear that gratitude when I listen to Kamala Harris.”
Vance was named as Trump’s running mate last week and appeared with the former president at the Republican Party convention and a rally in Grand Rapids over the weekend.
He took the stage on Monday with his wife Usha. And he quickly showed that he has picked up some Trumpisms.
Trump’s running mate Senator JD Vance warmed up the crowd in Grand Rapids, Michigan, ahead of the former president as they made their first rally appearance together
“It’s so nice to finally be home, isn’t it?” he said. “We have a great crowd here.
‘There were hundreds of people outside who couldn’t even get in.’
Trump regularly exaggerates the size of his crowds, frequently claiming that thousands of people are trapped outside the protest sites (as he did on Saturday).
Vance’s attack on Harris shows how quickly he had to move after Biden announced he was withdrawing.
“President Trump and I are ready to save America, no matter who is at the top of the Democratic ticket,” he posted on X on Sunday. “Bring it on.”