Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance railed against Democrats as soft on crime in a campaign stop in Kenosha Tuesday, ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris’ rally in Milwaukee.
Vance touted recent endorsements from Wisconsin law enforcement groups, including the Kenosha Professional Police Association. He said the Trump campaign is relying on more than promises to be tough on crime.
“We have got four years of Donald Trump’s successful leadership that brought public safety to our streets. And that is something to celebrate and look forward to,” Vance said.
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Vance repeated Trump’s oft-repeated claim that the former president was solely responsible for restoring order to Kenosha after the 2020 police shooting of Jacob Blake. Republicans have continued to campaign on the response to the riots as part of a law-and-order campaign strategy.
“Who was it that pacified the streets of Wisconsin and ensured that those riots didn’t spiral outta control and burn down the entire city? That was President Donald J. Trump,” he said.
While on the campaign trail, Harris has also been contrasting her history as a prosecutor and California attorney general with Trump’s own criminal conviction and outstanding court cases.
Vance was joined by Rep. Bryan Steil and Republican Senate nominee Eric Hovde.
Hovde, trailing in polls to Democratic Sen. Tammy Baldwin, spoke very briefly and echoed Vance’s support for police.
“We all wanna live in safe communities, and you could not get a more distinct difference between these two sides: the radical leftist Kamala Harris, Gov. Walz and Sen. Tammy Baldwin, or President Trump, JD Vance and Eric Hovde.”
It was Vance’s third stop in Wisconsin in three weeks.
“I basically live in Wisconsin now,” he joked.
Vance said Harris talks about policies she would enact to improve the economy, though she’s been in office for three and a half years.
“If she has such good ideas for how to bring down the cost of food and groceries and housing, why doesn’t she do it now — she’s the vice president — not talk about what she’s gonna do in six months,” he said. “Do it now.”
Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, are slated to speak at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee Tuesday evening while the Democratic National Convention is underway in Chicago. It is the same venue where Trump accepted the Republican nomination for a third time last month.
Tuesday’s visit will be Harris’s fourth visit to the state since President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race.
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