PHILADELPHIA – Republican vice presidential nominee Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) accused Vice President Kamala Harris of being pressured into choosing dark horse Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro – saying she “bent the knee” to the far-left of the party.
Walz is one of the “most far-left radicals in the entire United States,” Vance said, arguing that Harris chose him to “fit the needs of the far-left of the party.”
“She selected Tim Walz – a guy who wants to ship more manufacturing jobs to China, who wants to get an illegal aliens driver’s license, and who wants to make the financial crisis … so much worse because he refuses to do his job and actually make it easier for American citizens and non illegal aliens to live a good life,” he said.
Vance also said Harris’ selection of Walz proved that the current veep “is running as a San Francisco liberal,” accusing the Minnesota governor and native Nebraskan of being California-minded.
“To her credit, Kamala Harris and Tim Walz to make an interesting team because if we remember the rioting in the summer of 2020, Tim Walz was the guy who let rioters burn down Minneapolis and then Kamala Harris was the one who bailed the rioters out of jail,” he said, referencing the aftermath of George Floyd’s death there.
Vance also answered a question from The Post about how he feels about his opponent being Walz – whom the Republican accused of having a “joke record” – over the far more well-known Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who was reportedly Harris’ second choice.
“I genuinely feel bad that for days, maybe weeks, [Shapiro] actually had to run away from his Jewish heritage because of what the Democrats are saying about [him,]” Vance told The Post. “I think that’s scandalous, disgraceful – [regardless of] whatever you believe or whatever disagreements on policy you have about somebody.”
“The fact that that race – the vice presidential race on the Democratic side – became so focused on his ethnicity, I think it’s absolutely disgraceful, and it’s insulting to Americans, whatever background you’re from,” Vance added.
The remarks came after far-left groups formed in the weeks Harris was deliberating her running mate called Shapiro “Genocide Josh” for his support for Israel. It served as a nod to the nickname “Genocide Joe” that anti-Israel protesters gave President Biden.
Shapiro was reported as being a top candidate under Harris’ consideration and the final decision is reported to have been between the battleground governor and Walz, who was not one of the top contenders voters expected to get the nomination given his geography.
Democratic insiders have told The Post that Harris’ snub of Shapiro was more to do with her fear that the ambitious Pennsylvania governor would steal her “spotlight.”
As for the Trump-Vance campaign, the GOP VP nominee argued that they will focus on Harris – not Walz.
“We’re gonna run against Kamala Harris because she’s the problem and she’s the one asking to be the president of the United States,” he said, noting the she has not done an unscripted interview since replacing Biden on the top of the ticket.
AP
Walz and Harris will make their first appearance together later Tuesday in Pennsylvania.
Vance said he would “absolutely” debate Walz – but only when the governor is officially nominated at the DNC convention in Chicago later in August, in case the Democrats want to switch him out.
Rally attendees The Post spoke to – including Dorett Jackson, 65, and Dawn Rhodes, 62 – said they didn’t know much about Walz, but were invigorated by hearing Vance speak about his policies in Philadelphia.
When asked about Walz, Jackson called him a “senator” and said she didn’t “know much” about him.
“We thought maybe she would go with Josh Shapiro, and we were looking to see the news,” she said. “So we don’t have any background on that, but we’ll do our homework to see what’s going on.”
Another attendee, 46-year-old Brian Shine, slammed Walz’s record during the George Floyd riots in 2020 in a brief interview with The Post.
“I remember when they had an off-cuff report with him, he said Minnesota was nothing but rocks and cows. And he has a disdain for the average Joe,” said Shine, who works at a golf club in Phoenixville, Pa. “He has a disdain for the middle class, the working class in America.”
Walz is credited for starting the “weird” attack against Vance that has grown popular in the Democratic Party.
Shine said of the “weird” attack: “I don’t know what’s weird about a man who, like JD, who married a great woman, had three wonderful kids. What’s weird about that that’s perfectly normal. I know that several years ago, he became a Catholic. Welcome aboard. By the way, he knows what faith and hope and country are all about. He served his country in the Marine Corps. What’s weird about that?”
“Walz’s idea of normal is men having babies. His idea of normal is importing 12 million illegals and letting cities burn to the ground. That’s his idea of normal. That’s not normal; that’s abnormal and gross,” Shine said.
“It’s this radical left agenda that, it just doesn’t work. It doesn’t work. Socialism never worked in this country. It never worked anywhere, everywhere. It’s tried, it’s failed,” he added, noting that he doesn’t “like a single thing” about him Walz.
