PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Republican vice presidential hopeful JD Vance made a campaign stop in South Philadelphia on Tuesday, hours before a scheduled appearance from the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris, at Temple University.
“Kamala Harris has been saying that she wants a promotion. I think we ought to say to Kamala Harris, ‘You’re fired,’ and rehire Donald J. Trump as president of the United States,” Vance said to applause from a few hundred supporters assembled at the 2300 Arena on Swanson and Ritner streets, which frequently hosts pro wrestling and boxing events.
Under a Trump-Vance 2024 sign, the U.S. senator from Ohio criticized the Biden-Harris administration on a variety of domestic and international issues, including the cost of living, crime and immigration.
“Kamala Harris ought to stand before the American people and persuade them of why she is the right choice. She ought to answer for the fact that she wanted to ban fracking and now she allegedly doesn’t. She ought to answer for the fact that she wanted to defund the police,” Vance said, while also labeling Harris a failed “border czar.”
“She ought to answer for the fact that she opened the American Southern border and she ought to answer for the fact that groceries are unaffordable and housing is unaffordable because of her policies.”
Vance’s rally came on the heels of the Harris campaign’s Tuesday morning announcement of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as Harris’ running mate. The senator had some words for his new vice presidential rival, too, characterizing Walz as a “radical.”
“Tim Walz’s record is a joke. He has been one of the most far-left radicals in the entire United States government at any level, but I think that what Tim Walz’s selection says is that Kamala Harris has bent the knee to the far left of her party, which is what she always does,” Vance said of his opponent. Walz has championed causes such as organized labor, clean energy and veterans’ affairs.
Vance said he did congratulate his opponent, adding it was the polite thing to do. He also made clear he is willing to debate Walz, but will wait until the Democrats officially nominate him before making his final decision.
The “Hillbilly Elegy” author also had a message to voters regarding division among the American people, saying division starts at the top. “You saw Donald Trump, who took a bullet two weeks ago and called for national calm and unity — that is the kind of unifying message that we need in this country.”