PHILADELPHIA, Penn. — Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, reacted to the “interesting tag team” of Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz, D-Minn., on Tuesday in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania after her much-anticipated pick was made public.
“If we remember the rioting in the summer of 2020, Tim Walz was the guy who let rioters burn down Minneapolis,” he recalled of the riots which began in Minnesota in response to the death of George Floyd during his arrest in Minneapolis.
“And then Kamala Harris was the one who bailed the rioters out of jail,” he added.” So there’s an interesting team in that sense.”
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JD Vance criticized Kamala Harris’ running mate selection of Tim Walz. (Getty Images)
Harris has been heavily criticized by Republicans for promoting the Minnesota Freedom Fund during the summer of 2020 amid the riots. It was reported that donations to the fund were primarily used to bail out people convicted of violent crimes, rather than the protesters it was purported to be helping.
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During a campaign event in South Philadelphia on Tuesday, Vance explained to supporters why he didn’t provide a lot of initial reaction to Harris’ running mate selection initially.
“The reason I didn’t say a whole lot about Tim Walz is because the Democrats have showed a willingness to pull a little switcheroo on us,” he said, referencing President Biden’s decision to drop out of the race last month after pressure mounted from top Democrats on him to do so.
“So I don’t even know if we’re actually going to get Tim Walz out of this campaign. And I think that a lot of us are asking ourselves, ‘Well, it’s not going to be official until the Democrats actually nominate him, I guess, at their convention next week,'” he laughed.
He also claimed, “Tim Walz, his record is a joke. He’s been one of the most far-left radicals in the entire United States government at any level.”
“I think what it says is that Kamala Harris is running as a San Francisco liberal. She has governed as a San Francisco Liberal, and she’s chosen a running mate who will be a San Francisco-style liberal,” Vance said.
Walz is governor of Minnesota. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
The Ohio senator was met by a warm crowd at the Tuesday event, who at one point began chanting “JD! JD! JD!”
He invited multiple Pennsylvania voters to speak to the crowd, saying, “I think it’s important to put a human face on the disaster that has been Kamala Harris and to remind the American people this is why we need President Donald J. Trump, because normal people benefit when he’s the President of the United States.”
The speakers focused on the fentanyl crisis and how it has affected their lives and the lives of others in the Philadelphia area.
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Vance slammed Harris and Walz for their progressive politics. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
“These are not racially profiled drugs,” said Geraldine Briggs, a young Black woman from Philadelphia. “The rehabilitation centers prove that this crisis knows no demographic, income, family history. It affects millions nationwide.”
“Democrats claim to have cleaned up the streets in Philadelphia, but it has not worked,” she said.
According to Vance, Harris’ selected running mate, Walz, “wants to make the fentanyl crisis that we just heard about so much worse because he refuses to do his job and actually make it easier for American citizens and not illegal aliens to live a good life.”
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The Republican senator further pinned the Biden administration’s record to Harris, citing, “We have got a war in Europe. We have got a war in the Middle East that threatens to spiral out of control. We’ve got chaos in the world financial markets. Everything that Kamala Harris touches has been a disaster, and we have got to kick her out of the United States government, not give her a promotion.”
Vance’s Philadelphia trip comes hours before Harris holds her own event in the city with Walz, their first together as a Democratic ticket. Former President Trump’s running mate is also tailing the Harris campaign on a several-day battleground state tour.
The Harris campaign did not immediately provide comment to Fox News Digital.
Fox News Digital’s Michael Lee and Audrey Conklin contributed to this report.
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