Vance follows Dems to Eau Claire, pushes back on 'weird' label

 

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (CBS 58) -- Sen. JD Vance's plane landed in Eau Claire shortly after Vice President Kamala Harris and her newly named running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, arrived. While the Republican nominee for vice president is mirroring the Democratic ticket's visit to swing states this week, Vance told reporters the similarities stop there because he's taking questions from reporters while Harris sticks to a script.

Vance spoke at Wollard International, a manufacturer that makes vehicles and equipment for airports, such as end loaders and portable passenger stairs. The Ohio senator has also scheduled stops this week in Pennsylvania, Michigan and North Carolina on the same days Harris and Walz are set to visit.

"Rather than sit in front of the teleprompter, read scripted lines and run away from every reporter and every actual citizen who's gonna decide this election, I think it's a scandal," Vance said of Harris not holding press conferences during her campaign tour. "And I think the vice president should be ashamed of herself."

In a swing state where four of the last six presidential elections have been decided by one percentage point or less, whether voters find one candidate more relatable than another can make a difference, UW-Eau Claire Political Science Chair Geoff Peterson said.

"I think that quality is really important because these are voters who are, in many cases, not following policy very carefully," Peterson said. "They're certainly lot into the intricacies of policy, and so, personality and character matter."

An old saying in politics is it's important for candidates to seem like someone with whom you'd want to have a beer. A CBS 58 reporter asked Vance why people in Wisconsin would want to have a beer with him.

"Well, I guess they'd want to have a beer with me because I actually do like to drink beer," Vance said. "I probably like to drink beer a little too much, but that's OK. I'm sure the media won't give me too much crap over that."

Vance added he believed both he and former President Donald Trump were more relatable to working class voters.

"I've never met a guy who likes normal people more than Donald Trump," Vance said. "I've never met a guy who, when he's got a big decision to make, he will solicit feedback from every single person all over the country."

A large number of Wisconsin voters do not seem to share that same view. According to a Marquette Law poll of Wisconsin voters, 46% of respondents said they believe Mr. Trump shares their values while 51% said the same of Harris.

Vance was also asked about the 'weird' label Democrats have tried attaching to him in recent weeks. He pushed back, invoking the lingering effects of inflation and conservative voters' concerns about illegal immigration.

"I think that the weird argument, honestly, came from a bunch of 24-year-old social media interns who were bullied in school, and they decided they're gonna project that onto the entire Trump campaign," Vance said. "And the reason it doesn't make sense is because you ask who's weird, I think it's pretty weird to be the border czar and to open the border and allow fentanyl to come into your community."

The GOP platform adopted at last month's Republican National Convention calls for the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. Vance decried the effects of illegal immigration, blaming it for the struggles of rural healthcare providers without providing a clear link between the two.