Vance to Hit Campaign Trail in an Upended Race

JD Vance will hold events in Ohio and Virginia, his first solo campaign stops since becoming Donald Trump’s running mate.

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Senator JD Vance on Saturday in Grand Rapids, Mich., where he and former President Donald J. Trump held their first rally together since Mr. Vance became his running mate.

Senator JD Vance of Ohio will campaign solo as the Republican vice-presidential nominee for the first time on Monday, with two events that also signal the start of a freshly upended race for the White House.

Less than 24 hours after President Biden shook the presidential contest by announcing that he would not seek a second term, Mr. Vance will speak in southwest Ohio at Middletown High School, where he graduated in 2003. Later in the day, he is scheduled to address supporters at Radford University, a public college in southwest Virginia.

Mr. Vance, who will turn 40 next week, is among the youngest Americans ever nominated to a presidential ticket. His youth and relative inexperience in politics — he was sworn in to his first elected office last year — immediately made him an intriguing figure in a race featuring an 81-year-old incumbent and a 78-year-old challenger.

But in the aftermath of Mr. Biden’s sudden exit from the race, Mr. Vance’s performance on the trail will draw even more interest as Republicans scramble to take aim at a new political target: Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Mr. Biden endorsed to take his place at the top of the Democratic ticket.

In his first speech as former President Donald J. Trump’s running mate on Wednesday at the Republican National Convention, Mr. Vance barely mentioned Ms. Harris. Instead, he took repeated shots at Mr. Biden, reminding supporters that the president was involved in politics before Mr. Vance was born.

After Mr. Biden’s announcement on Sunday, Mr. Vance previewed his message on social media, drawing a direct link from the president’s policies to Ms. Harris.

“Joe Biden has been the worst President in my lifetime and Kamala Harris has been right there with him every step of the way,” Mr. Vance said before tying her to the Biden administration’s immigration and energy policies. “She owns all of these failures, and she lied for nearly four years about Biden’s mental capacity — saddling the nation with a president who can’t do the job. President Trump and I are ready to save America, whoever’s at the top of the Democrat ticket. Bring it on.”

On Saturday, Mr. Vance joined Mr. Trump for a rally in Grand Rapids, Mich., where he criticized Ms. Harris, a former prosecutor and the first female vice president, for her long career in public office. Ms. Harris, 59, has held office since 2004, when she was the first person of color elected as San Francisco’s district attorney.

“I did serve in the United States Marine Corps and build a business,” Mr. Vance said in Michigan. “What the hell have you done other than collect a check?”

Michael C. Bender is a Times political correspondent covering Donald J. Trump, the Make America Great Again movement and other federal and state elections. More about Michael C. Bender

See more on: J.D. Vance, Donald Trump, Republican Party, U.S. Politics, 2024 Elections