Vance criticizes Harris in first solo campaign stop as Trump’s running mate

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (NYT) — In JD Vance’s first solo appearance as the Republican vice-presidential nominee, the Ohio senator questioned Vice President Kamala Harris’ appreciation for the United States and chastised her fellow Democrats, who he accused of supporting President Joe Biden “until he became political dead weight.”

“If you want to lead this country, you should feel grateful for it, you should feel a sense of gratitude,” Vance said. “And I never hear that gratitude coming through when I listen to Kamala Harris.”

Vance’s remarks in southwest Ohio were made during the first official campaign event for either party’s presidential ticket since Biden announced Sunday that he would not seek a second term.

Biden stepped down just a week after Vance was named former President Donald Trump’s running mate, which the Ohio senator joked was like a bait-and-switch. Vance said he expected to join a vice-presidential debate against Harris, but she is now widely expected to take over as her party’s presidential nominee.

“I was told I was going to get to debate Kamala Harris, now President Trump is going to get to debate her?” Vance laughed and then cursed at the turn of events.

Vance spoke at Middletown High School, where he graduated in 2003. Later Monday, he is scheduled to address supporters at Radford University, a public college in southwest Virginia.

He spent much of his speech in Ohio talking about his biography and the lessons he learned growing up in southwest Ohio and on trips to rural Kentucky with his grandmother to visit extended family. That experience was at the core of his bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.”

In his speech, Vance called for ramping up domestic energy production and manufacturing but offered few details on how he would accomplish those goals other than asking supporters to vote “the current crop of crazies out of there and replace them with President Trump.”

“We’re going to fight for every single worker in this country,” Vance said. “Work hard and play by the rules — you get a good life, it’s that simple.”

In Ohio, several thousand supporters lined up early to give their native son a warm welcome. The event was held in the school’s auditorium, which had about 1,000 seats.

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