A recent report has given more insight into how President Joe Biden’s rivals received the news of him ending his reelection bid, with Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance reportedly calling it a “political sucker punch.”
The report from The Washington Post shared that Vance commented on the emergence of Vice President Harris’s campaign privately to donors. It also goes against what former President Trump has previously said about Biden dropping out and Harris stepping up.
The Post reported that the remarks were made at a Golden Valley, Minnesota, fundraiser last Saturday after Vance and Trump spoke in the midwestern state.
“All of us were hit with a little bit of a political sucker punch,” Vance reportedly said. “The bad news is that Kamala Harris does not have the same baggage as Joe Biden because whatever we might have to say, Kamala is a lot younger. And Kamala Harris is obviously not struggling in the same ways that Joe Biden did.”
Harris has seen a massive influx of support after she announced that she was planning on running for the Democratic nominee and the White House.
She set fundraising records when she raised $200 million in her first week of campaigning. She has also secured the necessary delegates to clinch the nominee.
Despite Vance’s closed-door comments, publicly, Trump has said that Harris would not change the race as he continues to hammer his competition over the border, inflation, and more.
Vance joked after Biden dropped out that he was “kind of pissed off” because he wouldn’t be able to debate Harris as vice presidential candidate.
He also said she was a “million times worse” for the country than President Biden.
In Minnesota, Vance appeared to share a different opinion on Harris, saying she would be a different challenge for Republicans.
“We have a very unique opportunity, but also a very unique challenge, because, let’s be honest, 10 days ago, the two candidates who were running for president, everybody had an opinion about ‘em,” Vance said, according to the Post.“Love ‘em or hate ‘em, everybody has an opinion about Donald Trump and Joe Biden after the past eight years. But Kamala Harris, people don’t really know.”
Vance spokesperson Will Martin didn’t address the reported remarks from the senator but instead shared with the Post that polling shows Trump is leading the vice president because “voters become aware of her weak, failed and dangerously liberal agenda.”
“Her far-left ideas are even more radio-active than Joe Biden, particularly in the key swing states that will decide this election like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin,” Martin’s statement said.