RADFORD, Va. (AP) 鈥� Republican vice presidential nominee used his first solo campaign rallies Monday to throw fresh barbs at Vice President Kamala Harris a day after President Joe Biden threw the presidential election into upheaval by and endorsing his second-in-command to lead Democrats against Donald Trump.
The Ohio senator campaigned at his former high school in Middletown before an evening stop in Radford, Virginia, two venues intended to play up his conservative populist appeal across the Rust Belt and small-town America that he said the Biden-Harris administration has forgotten.
鈥淗istory will remember Joe Biden as not just a quitter, which he is, but as one of the worst presidents in the history of the United States of America," Vance said in Virginia. 鈥淏ut my friends, Kamala Harris is a million times worse and everybody knows it. She signed up for every single one of Joe Biden鈥檚 failures, and she lied about his mental capacity to serve as president.鈥�
Vance sought to saddle Harris with the administration鈥檚 record on inflation and immigration, clarifying the lines of attack that the Trump campaign will use even with the change at the top of the Democratic ticket. Harris still must be formally nominated but has quickly consolidated commitments from top party leaders and is now to win her party鈥檚 nomination vote, according to an Associated Press survey.
鈥淭he border crisis is a Kamala Harris crisis," Vance said, accusing Biden and Harris together of rolling back immigration policies that Trump enacted in his White House term. He added Harris is 鈥渆ven more extreme than Biden鈥� because, Vance alleged, she has designs on abolishing federal immigration enforcement and domestic police forces.
Vance, 39, drew biographical contrasts with Harris, as well, comparing his service in the Marine Corps and small business ownership to Harris 鈥渃ollecting a government paycheck for the last 20 years.鈥�
Harris, 59, was a local prosecutor, then California attorney general and a U.S. senator before she ran for president unsuccessfully in 2020 and became Biden鈥檚 running mate. Vance was elected to the Senate two years ago.
Vance also fulfilled his role as Trump's biggest cheerleader, promising the former president would lead an era of peace and prosperity in a White House encore, while helping Republicans dominate House, Senate and state contests.
鈥淲e've got an opportunity to win races up and down the ballot," he said.
He promised, 鈥淵ou're going to see more and more products stamped with that beautiful logo: 鈥楳ade in the USA.鈥欌�� He also asked the crowd, 鈥淲ho is sick of sending America's sons and daughters into foreign lands they have no business in?鈥�
The senator carefully stopped short of outright isolationism, however, pledging the U.S. would 鈥減unch back hard鈥� when necessary. Vance did not detail any policy approach to the wars that have most vexed the Biden administration: Vladimir Putin's Russian invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
Those arguments are at the core of Trump's 鈥淎merica First鈥� brand and highlight Vance's electoral strengths as the son of Appalachia who first came to national prominence with his memoir, 鈥淗illbilly Elegy.鈥� Trump's campaign intends to use him heavily across the Rust Belt and swaths of small town America where voters have moved to the right and remain especially frustrated over decades of what Vance called 鈥渂ad trade deals.鈥�
Trump and Vance sat Saturday for a joint interview with Fox News that was aired Monday evening after the senator鈥檚 rallies. Trump nodded to the fact that Vance, during his brief political career, has morphed from 小蓝视频 a harsh Trump critic, , to a staunch defender.
鈥淥riginally, JD was probably not for me, but he didn鈥檛 know me,鈥� Trump told Fox host Jesse Watters as Vance looked on. 鈥淎nd then when we got to know each other, he liked me maybe more than anybody liked me, and he would stick up for me. ... We just had an automatic chemistry.鈥�
Earlier Monday in Ohio, Vance tried to deflect the criticism that Trump, who has refused to accept his 2020 loss to Biden and tried to overturn the results, is a threat to democracy. The senator claimed that the real threat came from the push by 鈥渆lite Democrats鈥� who 鈥渄ecided to throw Joe Biden overboard鈥� and then have the party line up behind a replacement without primary contests.
Democrats, he said in Virginia, lied 鈥渇or three-and-a-half years鈥� only to 鈥減ull a switcheroo.鈥�
While Republicans promoted a unifying message at the Republican National Convention where Vance was nominated last week and decried inflammatory language in the wake of the assassination attempt against Trump, one of the first speakers to introduce Vance in Ohio suggested the country may need to come to civil war if Trump loses in November.
鈥淚 believe wholeheartedly, Donald Trump and Butler County鈥檚 JD Vance are the last chance to save our country,鈥� said George Lang, a Republican state senator. 鈥淧olitically, I鈥檓 afraid if we lose this one, it鈥檚 going to take a civil war to save the country and it will be saved. It鈥檚 the greatest experiment in the history of mankind."
Lang later apologized after Harris' team highlighted his remarks on a post on X.
鈥淚 regret the divisive remarks in the excitement of the moment on stage,鈥� he said on the same social network. 鈥淓specially in light of the assassination attempt on President Trump last week, we should all be mindful of what is said at political events, myself included.鈥�
Vance still has work to do raising his profile. A CNN poll conducted in late June found the majority of registered voters had never heard of Vance or had no opinion of him. Just 13% of registered voters said they had a favorable opinion of Vance and 20% had an unfavorable one, according to the poll.
After Vance was named as Trump鈥檚 running mate, a startling number of Republican delegates, who are typically party insiders and activists, said they did not know much about the senator.
In his hometown in Ohio, though, he was welcomed as a local star.
Darlene Gooding, 77, of Hamilton, said Vance will provide a welcome contrast to Trump.
鈥淭rump doesn鈥檛 always come off the best. It鈥檚 all about him," she said. "JD is wonderful. He gives you the idea he really cares about people.鈥�
In Virginia, Trump backers were warming quickly to his new running mate.
Pamela Holloway, who came to see Vance in Radford, described herself as a former Democrat who has gravitated to Republicans. She said she recently bought Vance's book to learn more about how his experiences have shaped his political outlook.
鈥淗e's truthful,鈥� she said of his writing. 鈥淗e talks about his mother 小蓝视频 an addict. He talks about the hardships with his grandmother鈥� who raised him. 鈥淗e talks about things that aren't fake.鈥�
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Price reported from New York. Smyth reported from Middletown, Ohio. Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Kentucky, and Adriana Gomez Licon in Lambertville, New Jersey contributed.
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Leah Willingham, Michelle L. Price, Julie Carr Smyth And Bill Barrow, The Associated Press
