JD Vance visits Macomb County ahead of Harris and Walz visit on Wednesday
MACOMB COUNTY, Mich. (FOX 2) - JD Vance, former president Donald Trump's running mate, is in Michigan for a campaign visit where he spoke in front of a Macomb County police department.
Vance spoke outside the Shelby Township Police Department during a private event on Wednesday morning.
Opening his address with points on supporting law enforcement, Vance said it was important for the Trump campaign to support law enforcement – something he said the Harris campaign is against.
"Kamala Harris…wants to make it harder for them to do their job, wants to defend them and wants to make it more difficult to do their job and keep us safe," Vance said. "When law enforcement wasn't able to do their job, it was the poor kids in my community, the kids who grew up like I did who suffer the most."
Citing Walz' response to the 2020 Black Lives Matter protest in Minneapolis, Vance said the Harris campaign is anti-law enforcement.
"We saw that in 2020 with the summer riots with our new Vice Presidential nominee on the Democratic side. It makes a real interesting dynamic duo with Kamala Harris because, as he was promoting rioters and looters burning down Minneapolis, Kamala Harris was helping to bail the rioters and looters out of jail," Vance said.
The Ohio Senator says Walz is a crazy radical and that Harris is bowing to the requests of what he calls the "far left"
"What Kamala Harris is telling all of us by selecting Tim Walz is that she bends the knee to the far left of the Democratic Party," he said. "The fact that she keeps on leaning on the far left of the Democratic Party tells us exactly who she is and what she stands for."
Vance was also critical of Walz time in the military – over 20 years – but he claims Walz deserted his troops.
"As a Marine who served this country in uniform. When the United States Marine Corps…asked me to go to Iraq to serve my country, I did it. I did what they asked me to do and I did it honorably and I'm very proud of that service. When Tim Walz was asked to serve his country, do you know what he did? he dropped out of the army and allowed his country to go without him," Vance said. "I think it's shameful to prepare your unit to go to Iraq, to make a promise that you're going to follow through and drop out right before you're about to go."
Walz enlisted in the Nebraska National Guard in 1981 and transferred to the Minnesota National Guard in 1996 before ultimately retiring in 2005. His battalion deployed to Iraq shortly after his retirement.
You can watch the entire speech in the YouTube player below.
It's the second time he will visit Michigan after being selected as Trump's VP.
Vice President Kamala Harris and her newly-announced running mate, Minn. Gov. Tim Walz, will also be in the state on Wednesday. They are visiting Detroit in the evening after visiting Wisconsin earlier in the day.
The latest polling of Harris and Trump in Michigan shows the two neck-and-neck, with the most recent survey showing both candidates tied at 45% among likely voters.
This is Vance's first campaign stop since Walz was formally introduced as Harris' running mate on Tuesday.
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA - AUGUST 6: Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) delivers remarks during a campaign rally at 2300 Arena on August 6, 2024 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Vance is campaigning in several battleground st