Byron Center, MichiganAs for the key battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, long known as Democratic “blue wall” states, Republican vice presidential nominee Senator J.D. Vance is optimistic that these states “will become a red wall in November.”
“We’re going to make sure Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan lean Republican,” former President Trump’s 2024 vice presidential nominee emphasized in an exclusive national interview with Fox News Digital while campaigning in southwest Michigan last week.
Democrats had reliably won all three working-class states in presidential elections for nearly a quarter-century until Trump narrowly won the White House eight years ago.
Harris and Trump in fierce battle for blue wall states
Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance made headlines at a Trump campaign event in Byron Center, Michigan on August 14, 2024. (Fox News — Paul Steinhauser)
But in 2020, President Biden defeated President Trump, narrowly winning back all three states.
Both states remain highly competitive as Vice President Kamala Harris faces off against President Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Last month’s Republican National Convention was held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s largest city, and Trump and Vance held their first joint campaign rally after the convention in Grand Rapids, Michigan, just a few miles north from where Vance was interviewed by Fox News on Wednesday.
Vance said in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital:
Vance, a first-term populist senator and a key ally of President Trump in the Senate, has visited all three heavily Democratic states over the past two weeks and told Fox News he plans to spend plenty of time in those states over the rest of the summer and fall spreading the Republican candidate’s working-class message.
“We’re going to push Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan to the Republicans. People are tired of the green energy scam that’s moving manufacturing jobs to China instead of keeping them here in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. I think we have a great message in support of manufacturing and American workers,” he emphasized.
Former Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and Republican vice presidential nominee Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio attend the first day of the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, July 15, 2024. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (Joe Raedl/Getty Images)
Vance said his appeal to working-class voters “is the core message that Donald Trump and I want to get across in this campaign, and this is a good place for people to hear it.”
Vance is from Ohio, a state bordering Pennsylvania and Michigan, and his Midwestern, working-class background in a region long known as the “Rust Belt” was likely a key factor in Trump’s decision to nominate the senator as his running mate.
Trump campaign plans counterattack during Democratic convention
Before his Senate run, Vance gained national attention for his book “Hillbilly Elegy,” a New York Times best-seller and later adapted into a Netflix film that told the story of his upbringing in a struggling steel town and his roots in Appalachian Kentucky. The book highlighted the values of many working-class Americans who have come to support Trump’s policies.
Fox News reported that Vance was seen channeling his down-to-earth Midwestern vibe at a rally he hosted last week in Michigan for trucking company owners and their families.
Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio Senator J.D. Vance and his wife, Usha, meet with supporters prior to a campaign event in Byron Center, Michigan on August 14, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
The senator, accompanied by his wife, held a baby member of his family and said he wants a fourth child.
Later, speaking at a rally, he highlighted the important role of his grandmother, “Mamaw,” in his life, a remark that has become a key element of his election speeches.
“I’m one of the lucky ones, I was able to achieve the American dream, and I managed to build a life for myself because I had a really tough mom,” Vance told the crowd.
Click here to get the FOX News app
Democrats have repeatedly attacked Vance, pointing out that he was a top hedge fund executive while working in San Francisco as a principal at billionaire Peter Thiel’s venture capital firm, and arguing that he was hardly a working-class hero.
Ms Harris, who replaced Mr Biden as the Democratic front-runner for 2024 presidential nomination last month and has chosen fellow Midwestern Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate, has accused Mr Vance of “endorsing” Mr Trump’s “extremist policies”.
“Make no mistake: J.D. Vance will be loyal only to Mr. Trump, not to our country,” Harris said.
Get the latest 2024 campaign updates, exclusive interviews and more on Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.
