In advance of Dem Milwaukee rally, Vance in Kenosha says Harris wants to undermine public safety

GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance argued in Kenosha that Dem presidential candidate Kamala Harris wants to undermine public safety, nearly four years after violent protests hit the city in the wake of George Floyd’s murder. 

The visit Tuesday preceded a Dem rally in Milwaukee featuring Harris and running mate Tim Walz.

Vance claimed Harris wants to defund the police and Democrats want to take away the right to public safety. The Ohio senator shared a story of police coming to help when he was 11 or 12 years old and his mother was struggling with addiction. 

“They showed up and they took care of my mom and they made a little kid who was terrified of what was going on in his home, they made that little kid feel safe,” Vance said. “And I think about what situation would I have been in, and what situation our country would be in, if we take away every child’s right to public safety?”

Vance appeared at the Kenosha County Courthouse for his fourth Wisconsin stop this year alongside law enforcement, GOP U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde, and U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Janesville. Kenosha County is a swing area in the swing state of Wisconsin.

Harris’ visit will mark her seventh Wisconsin stop this year and her third since President Joe Biden dropped out and endorsed her. 

Kenosha County Sheriff David Zoerner and the Kenosha Professional Police Association endorsed the Trump-Vance ticket at the Kenosha event. 

During the visit, Vance said he and Donald Trump would support the death penalty for drug dealers, “because they kill far more people than some of the most violent and vicious criminals.” 

Vance also knocked Walz, saying his theory on why the DNC is taking place in Chicago is so Walz, a 24-year veteran, could say he had been to a combat zone. 

And he said he told Wisconsinites he’s “going to be spending a lot of time with you fine people,” noting the battleground state’s importance in November.

In response to a request for comment on the stop, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign referred WisPolitics to a statement from state Dem Party spokesperson Arik Wolk knocking Hovde. 

During his remarks, Hovde called Harris, Walz and his opponent, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Madison, “a perfect trifecta of radical, liberal crazies.” 

He said Walz let Minneapolis burn in his role as Minnesota governor in 2020, and that Baldwin and Harris “fanned the flames.” 

“They attacked the police and all of law enforcement and pushed defund the police and it resulted in the tragedy that happened here in Kenosha, but all over our country,” Hovde said.”My city of Madison—they destroyed all of State Street, that wonderful street that runs from our state Capitol down to our university.”

Hovde didn’t take any questions during the availability. Vance was the only speaker who took questions.

“Yet again, Eric Hovde refused to say which foreign governments are depositing money in his bank and refused to be honest with Wisconsinites how he’ll avoid a conflict of interest with his bank,” Wolk said. “He’s a walking conflict of interest who would put himself first and Wisconsinites last.” 

Steil said visiting Kenosha today “brought back memories of a darker time.”

He said he remembered speaking to a sheriff’s deputy who “woke up that morning not knowing that her duty would be to come to Kenosha, and by the end of the night, she had been hit by a brick thrown by a rioter.” 

“This election is a choice between those leaders, JD Vance, President Trump, who stand with the men and women of law enforcement, and those leaders, Gov. Walz, Vice President Harris, who took the side of the criminals who were engaged in illegal behavior across the country,” Steil said.