JD Vance says he’ll be in Pennsylvania ‘a lot’ before Election Day

Sen. JD Vance said he plans to be in Pennsylvania “a lot, taking our message to the whole state,” as he visited Philadelphia on Monday for the second time this month.

“Pennsylvania is an incredibly important state to me and President Trump,” Vance said during a visit to DiSorb Systems, a medical waste management company in North Philadelphia.

The visit marked Vance’s third to Pennsylvania since joining former President Donald Trump on the Republican ticket. Trump, who was last in the state Saturday for a rally in Wilkes-Barre, was also expected to speak in York on Monday afternoon, emphasizing the importance of Pennsylvania as a critical swing state. Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, meanwhile, took a campaign swing Sunday through Western Pennsylvania ahead of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Vance also stopped to get a cheesesteak at Pat’s King of Steaks in South Philadelphia before leaving the city.

In remarks at DiSorb Systems lasting less than 30 minutes, Vance told the Philadelphia crowd that he and Trump are seeking to emphasize manufacturing and energy policies.

“It is a state with a proud energy tradition, a proud manufacturing tradition,” Vance said. “We believe that if we make more stuff in America, Pennsylvania workers and Pennsylvania families are going to benefit.”

Vance said Trump would “unleash Pennsylvania energy workers.”

His comments come as Trump targets Harris’ record on fracking.

Trump said during his Saturday rally that his opponent was “totally anti-fracking” and “anti-drilling, anti-oil and gas from practically the day she was born” — until Harris changed her position.

Harris has flip-flopped on fracking, an important industry in Pennsylvania. In 2019, Harris supported a ban on fracking, but backed away from that issue after becoming President Joe Biden’s running mate. Now, she no longer supports a ban on drilling.

“We are going to drill, baby drill,” Vance said Monday of fracking plans under another Trump administration.

While the predominately white audience filling the room wasn’t quite the sea of red seen at some Trump rallies, many attendees donned Trump hats or T-shirts. Some attendees wore shirts supporting other Pennsylvania Republican candidates, like Senate candidate Dave McCormick and congressional candidate Neil Young.

Nick Passino, who is from upstate New York and campaigning in Pennsylvania as part of a trio who call themselves the “MAGA Boyz,” said Vance “embodies the American dream.”

Dominic Durinzi, 72, another attendee, said it’s important for Vance to visit Philadelphia because he is “a very youthful person.”

“We support the ticket that supports America and American manufacturing, and that’s Trump-Vance,” said Durinzi, who lives in Burlington County and works for Deval Life Cycle. The company’s CEO spoke at the event before Vance took the stage.

Vance also took a few swipes at Walz.

He attacked Walz’s military service record, which has become a Trump campaign talking point since Walz was tapped as Harris’ running mate.

“Before the end of the campaign, Tim Walz is going to be talking about how he was carrying an M-16 through the jungles of Vietnam,” Vance said.

Vance and Walz are both veterans, but neither saw combat. Vance spent four years in the Marine Corps and Walz spent 24 years in the National Guard.

Vance also suggested that it was Walz who proposed the vice presidential debate on CBS on Oct. 1 — even though the network extended the invitation — and said he’s sure the event “is going to be in the tank for Democrats.”

“But who cares, because I respect the American people to go before hostile media,” Vance said.

Vance also doubled-down on claims that he proposed a vice presidential debate in September on CNN. Walz has yet to publicly agree to this debate, and CNN has neither confirmed nor denied that such a debate is in the works.

David Pearson, 67, an attendee from West Mount Airy, said he doesn’t know much about Vance and hadn’t heard of him until recently, but he likes what he’s heard. He said the choice of venue seemed to speak to “promoting business in blighted areas such as such as this.”

“It’s an important message, especially for the Republicans, to bring out,” said Pearson, a Republican commiteeperson and legal counsel for Philadelphia’s 22nd Ward.

After the event, the Harris campaign fixated on Vance’s response to a question about the federal minimum wage. Vance said work visas granted to undocumented people are to blame for low wages regardless of what the minimum wage is, and that the best way to raise wages is through “tight labor markets” in which employers pay well to attract workers.

“Donald Trump and JD Vance spend way too much time cozying up to their billionaire buddies and corporate mega donors — guess that’s why they think $7.25 an hour is enough to get by on,” said Ammar Moussa, a Harris campaign spokesperson. “ ... Vice President Harris has a different vision — and that’s why her economic agenda is focused on lowering costs and creating opportunity for everyday Americans.”

Carolyn Bunny Welsh, a Republican delegate attending the event, said it’s important that Trump and Vance visit majority-Democrat Philadelphia — which she called the “belly of the beast,” and a place where “traditionally, Republicans don’t go.”

“Both Trump and JD Vance now have shown they will go anywhere to spread their message,” said Welsh, a former Chester County sheriff who pleaded no-contest in 2021 to theft charges she faced related to her work in that position.

She said that Vance visiting “a neighborhood that looks like it’s a bit impoverished and maybe not as successful” brought “a message of hope.”