PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Republican vice-presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (Ohio) sees one similarity with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the man he\u2019s now tapped to face off against: \u201cWe\u2019re White guys from the Midwest.\u2019<\/p>\n
But the two men \u2014 sons of America\u2019s heartland, who both joined the military as teenagers \u2014 are far different on policy, Vance stressed in his first public remarks since Walz\u2019s selection Tuesday as Vice President Harris\u2019s running mate.<\/p>\n
\u201cI guess there\u2019s similarities there, but what\u2019s different is the actual ideas about how best to serve people, White, Black, or anything else in the Midwest and everywhere else,\u201d Vance said.<\/p>\n
Speaking about four miles from where Harris and Walz will make their first public appearance together, Vance said Walz was \u201cone of the most far-left radicals in the entire United States government at any level,\u2019 pointing to a new Minnesota law that lets any resident regardless of immigration status obtain a driver\u2019s license. Vance also criticized Harris over her decision to not select Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate, saying she was bending \u201cthe knee to the most radical elements of her party.\u2019 Democrats have sought to re-engage progressives angered by the Biden administration\u2019s aid to Israel amid the conflict in Gaza, and Shapiro, who is Jewish and has been supportive of Israel, was seen by some as a risky choice.<\/p>\n
In a statement after Vance\u2019s comments, Harris campaign communications director Michael Tyler highlighted Walz\u2019s biography as a veteran, teacher and football coach before his career in politics. Walz flipped a Republican-held congressional district in 2006 and held the seat for five terms before running for governor in 2018.<\/p>\n
\u201cVice President Harris and Gov. Walz will spend the next 91 days crisscrossing the country on a message of opportunity, building up the middle class instead of cutting taxes for the rich, and fighting for our fundamental freedoms, including reproductive freedom,\u201d Tyler said.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Walz has formed a key part of the recent messaging from Democrats by labeling Vance and Trump as \u201cweird,\u2019 which the Harris campaign and surrogates have adopted. A Harris campaign official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to preview Walz\u2019s remarks, said the governor will further define the contrast between the tickets\u2019 policy differences, specifically focusing on abortion, health care and the middle class.<\/p>\n
Vance said he would not commit to debating Walz until he is confirmed as the vice-presidential nominee at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this month. He told reporters earlier on his campaign plane that he had called Walz to wish him congratulations. Walz didn\u2019t answer but he left a message.<\/p>\n
The Philadelphia audience, made up of local Republicans invited to the closed event, listened to stories of Pennsylvania families who lost loved ones to fentanyl overdoses and cheered as Vance went after Harris\u2019s position on border security<\/p>\n
Vance will follow Harris and Walz on the campaign trail this week as they embark on a tour of battleground states, in Wisconsin and Michigan on Tuesday and North Carolina on Wednesday. (Harris postponed events in North Carolina because of Tropical Storm Debby as of Tuesday but Vance has not moved his scheduled events.)<\/p>\n
Vance also previewed what is expected to be an ongoing attack line against Walz, tying him to images of burning buildings during the racial justice protests in Minneapolis after George Floyd\u2019s murder in 2020 during Walz\u2019s first term as governor. Republican strategists have foreshadowed that such messaging will become increasingly common in ads and events.<\/p>\n
\u201cNobody knows who Tim Walz is outside of Minnesota,\u201d said Mike Berg, communications director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. \u201cWalz will be introduced to Midwestern voters as the governor who let Minnesota burn during the 2020 riots and supported making Minnesota a sanctuary state.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the audience at Vance\u2019s event, Janet DePaul, a Pennsylvania voter in her 50s, said she hadn\u2019t realized Walz was governor of Minnesota during the protests until Vance brought it up \u2014 cementing her belief that Walz was left-wing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t realize that he let the rioting go on,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, Deborah McGinley, a 53-year-old Pennsylvania voter, said she didn\u2019t come away with any different impression of Walz than she already had from listening to friends in Minnesota who complained about the destruction caused by protests in 2020. She said she understood why Vance instead focused most of his remarks on introducing himself to voters there for the first time and talking about issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is far, far left for me,\u201d she said of Walz. \u201cMy mind would have never been changed with what JD was saying.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Republican vice-presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (Ohio) sees one similarity with Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the man he\u2019s now tapped to face off against: \u201cWe\u2019re White guys from the Midwest.\u2019 But the two men \u2014 sons of America\u2019s heartland, who both joined the military as teenagers \u2014 are far different on policy, Vance […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":7405,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7404","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7404","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7404"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7404\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7405"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7404"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7404"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstriumphs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7404"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}