Trump campaign looks to Vance to help them over the finish line in Pennsylvania

November 4, 2024

Emily Elconin/Bloomberg via Getty Images

(PENNSYLVANIA) — From the moment he arrived in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, after being named former President Donald Trump’s running mate, it was clear that one of Sen. JD Vance’s primary roles was to help deliver battleground Pennsylvania for the former president.

The day Vance was announced as Trump’s vice presidential pick in July, Trump told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jon Karl that he was “going to leave [Vance] in Pennsylvania.”

Pennsylvania’s importance in this election can’t be overstated — it’s a crucial swing state with 19 coveted electoral votes where Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris are neck and neck. Whoever wins the state is very likely win the presidential election. During the 2020 election, Pennsylvania was the state that sealed the presidency for President Joe Biden.

It is essentially a dead heat between Harris and Trump, with the former president barely leading Harris 47.9% to 47.8%, according 538’s latest polling average in the state.

The importance of Pennsylvania and other critical Rust Belt battleground states was reiterated in Vance’s acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention in July.

“I promise you one more thing, to the people of Middletown, Ohio, and all the forgotten communities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio and every corner of our nation, I promise you this: I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from,” Vance, and Ohio native, said at the RNC.

Vance’s background is similar to those who live in Pennsylvania, which he shared in his book, “Hillbilly Elegy” and talks about often on the campaign trail.

Over the past few months, Vance has worked hard to court voters in Pennsylvania. When visiting the state, he often emphasizes his background growing up in the Rust Belt state of Ohio, which borders Pennsylvania, and touches on the top issues important voters in the state. That Rust Belt connection is something the Trump campaign is banking on to help the former president win in the state.

“JD Vance is more than just an eloquent voice on the campaign trail to break down how Kamala broke everything from our economy to our southern border, and how President Trump will fix it and get our country back on track,” Kush Desai, the Trump campaign’s Pennsylvania spokesperson, told ABC News in a statement.

“His upbringing and life story are an inspiration to countless working-class Americans left behind in Kamala’s America who want a better life for themselves, their families, and their communities — Sen. Vance is personal testament to the future that a Trump-Vance administration has in store for our country.”

In the final two days before Election Day, Vance will have visited Pennsylvania twice. It will also be the state where he will hold his final campaign event before Election Day.

Similarly, Harris will also be holding her final campaign event in the state, signifying the critical role the state plays in securing the presidency.

“Harris will spend the day crisscrossing Pennsylvania, making her final pitch to Pennsylvania voters and mobilizing them to return their ballots and get to the polls on Tuesday. The final swing marks the Vice President’s 18th trip to Pennsylvania since launching her candidacy in July,” a campaign spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News.

Since joining the Republican ticket, Pennsylvania is the state Vance has visited the most, making 16 visits to the state and taking part in a total of 19 campaign events, according to ABC’s tracker of the senator’s campaign schedule. (Harris’ running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, has visited the state nine times, according to ABC’s tracker of his events.)

While campaigning in Pennsylvania, one of the issues Vance often hits on is fracking, an important industry in the state. During her 2020 presidential run, Harris supported a ban on fracking, but has backed away from that stance since becoming the Democratic nominee.
Vance has also emphasized the loss of manufacturing jobs, bringing them back from overseas, often arguing that unleashing American energy would drive down the cost of manufacturing.

Will Martin, a spokesperson for Vance, told ABC News in a statement that American working families have been hit hard by the policies of the Biden-Harris administration and has worked to bring Trump’s message to voters in Pennsylvania.

“Under Donald Trump’s leadership, we are going to unleash a new golden age of American prosperity and Pennsylvania will be at the center of it all,” Martin told ABC News.

Former Republican Vice President Dick Cheney to vote for Harris, Liz Cheney says

Alex Wong/Getty Images, FILE

(WASHINGTON) — Former Vice President Dick Cheney, one of the most prominent Republicans in the last half-century, will be crossing party lines this election and voting for Vice President Kamala Harris, his daughter Liz Cheney said Friday, who contended her father sees former President Donald Trump as a “grave a threat to our democracy.”

The former House member who represented Wyoming told “The Atlantic” reporter Mark Leibovich during an interview at the Texas Tribute Festival that her father believes this is a serious moment in history.

“My dad believes — and he said publicly — that there’s never been an individual in our country who is as grave a threat to our democracy as Donald Trump is, and that’s, that’s the moment that we’re facing,” she said.

Tune in to “This Week” on Sunday, Sept. 8, where co-anchor Jonathan Karl will have an exclusive interview with Liz Cheney.Both Cheneys have been open about their criticism of Trump following the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.

Earlier in the week, Liz Cheney said she was going to vote for Harris.

She lost her seat in the 2022 primary to Trump-backed Harriet Hageman by more than 60,000 votes, according to election results.

Cheney made news on another front during her remarks at the festival and said she would support incumbent Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s Democratic challenger Rep. Colin Allred ahead of November. She said that one of the most important things to do to “rebuild our politics is we need to elect serious people.”

“You know, there aren’t enough good candidates running. I want to say specifically, though, here in Texas, you guys do have a tremendous, serious candidate running for the United States Senate, and his name is …” Cheney began before being interrupted by an applause. “Well, it’s not Ted Cruz.”

“Colin Allred is somebody I served with in the House … When you think about the kind of leaders our country needs, and going to this point about [how] you might not agree on every policy position, but we need people who are going to serve in good faith. We need people who are honorable public servants and and in this race that is Colin Allred, so I’ll be working on his behalf,” she continued.

Walz says Harris’ message ‘absolutely clear’ after Biden’s ‘garbage’ remarks

ABC/Lorenzo Bevilaqua

(NEW YORK) — Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz told “Good Morning America” Wednesday that presidential nominee and Vice President Kamala Harris will deliver what “Americans are hungry for — a unifying president, one that wants to find solutions.”

Walz also sought on Wednesday to downplay comments made by President Joe Biden, who a day earlier had seemingly referred to supporters of the Republican ticket as “garbage” in response to former President Donald Trump‘s controversial Madison Square Garden rally.

When asked about Biden’s comments on Wednesday, Walz said, “The president’s clarified his remarks.”

“Let’s be very clear,” Walz added. “The vice president and I have made it absolutely clear that we want everyone part of this.”

Speaking during a Voto Latino campaign call, Biden had referenced a joke by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe at Trump’s Sunday event at MSG.

“Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a ‘floating island of garbage,'” Biden said, according to a video clip on CNN.

“The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” the president had added. Biden later said the comment was only referring to the comedian in question, not Trump’s supporters more broadly.

But Republicans seized upon the comments to energize supporters. Trump’s running mate JD Vance, for example, described Biden’s remarks as “disgusting,” adding, “Kamala Harris and her boss Joe Biden are attacking half of the country. There’s no excuse for this. I hope Americans reject it.”

With less than a week of campaigning left, Walz said Harris’ Tuesday night address at the Ellipse in Washington, D.C. featured “the rhetoric that a president of the United States gives.”

The Democratic ticket, he added, is “one that understands we’re all in this together, one that welcomes robust debate about the issues.”

Walz said “dissenting voices” would “have a seat at the table because that’s how we find real solutions.”

The Minnesota governor contrasted Harris’ remarks to former President Donald Trump’s “divisive rhetoric,” which he said “needs to end.”

Harris’ closing argument at the Ellipse swiped at Trump while calling for unity.

“Unlike Donald Trump, I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy,” Harris said. “He wants to put them in jail; I’ll give them a seat at the table,” she added, in reference to her campaign platform to include a Republican in her cabinet if elected.

“I pledge to you to approach my work with the joy and optimism that comes from making a difference in peoples’ lives,” Harris said.

“And I pledge to be a president for all Americans — and to always put country above party and self,” Harris added.

Walz told “Good Morning America” the campaign is confident.

“We’re winning this thing,” he said. “There’s energy out there. I have done this long enough to know these things are won at the end. We’re not taking anything for granted.”

“We know it’s going to be close,” Walz added. “We’ve got the better ground game. We’ve got the momentum on our side.”

“There will be a clear result,” Walz replied when asked about his concerns for the final week of the campaign.

“My biggest concern is Donald Trump has brought pessimism to folks. People believe their votes don’t matter. Your vote does matter. Get out there. Participate in this democracy.”

“I think you’re going to see Donald Trump continue to spiral downward in this really difficult and hateful rhetoric,” he added.

“We saw our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico have to endure this. We’ve seen it in Ohio with folks. That’s what’s going to end.”

Trump meanwhile, defended the MSG event as a “love fest” and said it was an “honor to be involved.”

Some of Chicago’s young voters talk 2024 presidential election at the DNC

ABC News

(CHICAGO) — Perhaps no demographic group has had more ink spilled about it this election year than young voters. Traditionally a Democratic group, 18- to 29-year-olds soured on Joe Biden’s presidency faster than many other groups — and that was before the war between Israel and Hamas touched off protests on college campuses and alienated young voters from Biden even further.

However, with Vice President Kamala Harris replacing Biden as the Democratic nominee, young voters seem to have returned to the Democratic fold. According to an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll from Aug. 9-13, registered voters under age 40 supported Harris over former President Donald Trump 57% to 37%. By contrast, in the previous ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll, they supported Biden over Trump just 46% to 44%.

Of course, polls can tell us who voters support, but not necessarily why. So while in Chicago for the Democratic National Convention, we convened a panel of three young voters — one liberal, one moderate and one conservative — to see how they were thinking about the 2024 election.

Two of them said they were likely to vote for Harris, while one was likely to vote for Trump, mirroring young voters overall. Among the reasons they gave included the candidates’ economic plans, high prices, health care, crime and the war in Gaza. Interestingly, all three panelists cited the economy as one of the most important factors to their vote — just as polls show that the economy is the top issue for young voters nationwide — but that didn’t always lead them to the same conclusions.

Before Biden dropped out of the race, both panelists we interviewed said they were likely to support him, but they were feeling much better about supporting the Democratic ticket now that Harris is headlining it. This mirrors a spike in enthusiasm among Democratic voters that has shown up in poll after poll since Biden’s withdrawal.

All three panelists also hailed from Chicago, and they weighed in on what it meant to them that the Windy City was once again hosting a DNC and whether anything they heard at the convention could change their votes.

Although young voters are usually only a small slice of the electorate, they are an important part of the Democratic coalition, so any drop in support among them could be a problem for Democrats. Our discussion shed some light on how these voters are approaching the 2024 election.