Trump's vice presidential candidate, Senator JD Vance, talks about crime and “supporting the Democrats” in Milwaukee

MILWAUKEE, Wis. (AP/WBAY) – Republican vice presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. JD Vance from Ohio was campaigning in Milwaukee on Friday. It was his second visit to Wisconsin this month after speaking at a manufacturer's event in Eau Claire on Aug. 7.

A press release about the event said Vance would focus on crime and drugs, citing a news report that Milwaukee ranked third in the nation in violent crime last year and that “In Kamala Harris' America, crime is unabated.”

FBI Statistics show that violent crime has been declining since the pandemic, including a decline in the first quarter of 2024 compared to the first quarter of 2023.

The press release from Trump and Vance goes on to say that Harris' border policy has enabled drug smuggling into the country, leading to record numbers. Deaths from opioids in Wisconsin in 2021.

Speaking to the Milwaukee Police Association on Friday, Vance was asked about criticism Trump has faced for calling the Presidential Medal of Freedom “better” than the highest military award, the Congressional Medal of Honor, saying the servicemen and women who receive it “have been hit by bullets so many times, or they're dead.”

“I don't think he is in any way disparaging those who have received military honors when he compliments and says a kind word about a person who has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom,” Vance said Friday.

Vance, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, added: “The veteran community is fully behind Donald Trump.”

Vance was asked whether Trump should instead focus more on policy rather than targeted criticism of opponents like Harris.

“I don't think the president needs to change his mind, and if I told him that, I can imagine what he would say,” Vance said. “I think the reason President Trump has been so successful in connecting with the American people is that they know he is just who he is, even if they don't agree with something he says,” Vance said.

Much of Vance's remarks focused on Harris' record on crime. He said her policies make law enforcement officers' jobs “more difficult.” The vice president is trying to “redefine her record as a prosecutor who is tough on crime,” but her actions are “the opposite of tough on crime.”

Before becoming a member of the U.S. Senate and Vice President, Harris served as a district attorney in San Francisco and Attorney General of California.

The Democratic National Convention is in Chicago next week. Harris and her vice presidential candidate, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, plan to visit Milwaukee during the convention.

Vance and Walz will face off in a vice presidential debate on October 1.

Copyright 2024 WBAY. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.