JD Vance, in Phoenix, says John McCain would never have supported Kamala Harris
Sen. JD Vance, speaking Thursday at the same Phoenix resort where the late Sen. John McCain spoke on Election Night 2008, said he believed McCain would have never backed Vice President Kamala Harris for the White House.
Vance, an Ohio Republican and this year's GOP nominee for vice president acknowledged that McCain, who died in 2018, and former President Donald Trump had their differences, but said he doubted McCain would go as far as endorsing Democrats.
Vance made the remarks at the historic Arizona Biltmore, which hosted McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, and his running mate Sarah Palin on the night they lost the general election to the Democratic ticket of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
“Look, one of the things I love about Donald Trump, and I never knew John McCain, but I suspect that one of the things that I would have loved about John McCain is that they didn’t let their personal grievances get in the way of serving the country,” Vance said. “OK, so John McCain, I’m sure, disagreed with Donald Trump on a whole host of issues. And, yes, Donald Trump disagreed with John McCain on a whole host of issues. I do not believe for a second that if John McCain were alive today, and he sees what’s going on at the American southern border, that he would support Kamala Harris and all the destruction she’s wrought.”
The comments came a day after McCain's son, Jim McCain, endorsed Harris and disclosed that he had reregistered as a Democrat. Former McCain aides also have said they are backing Harris over Trump.
"I mean, who cares what somebody's family thinks about a presidential race?” Vance said. “John McCain died, what, five, six, seven years ago? And the media is turning it into a story (about) what John McCain's family says about Donald Trump.”
Vance pointed to a photo circulating on social media of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s family members in Nebraska who back Trump over Harris and her running mate. USA TODAY reported Thursday that the Walz relatives are second cousins descended from "Joseph Francis Walz, the brother of Walz's grandfather."
To say that McCain and Trump had disagreements is putting it diplomatically. The two carried on a long-running public feud in which Trump at one point disparaged McCain's Vietnam War record. McCain, a Navy aviator, was shot down in 1967 and was held as a prisoner of war for more than five years. Trump, who did not serve in the military, said McCain was “a war hero because he was captured” and that he liked "people that weren’t captured."
In October 2016, McCain yanked his support of Trump for president after a vulgar 2005 recording of Trump talking about women surfaced, but he stopped short of endorsing Trump's 2016 Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. The following year, McCain torpedoed speculation that he might be considering switching parties to the Democrats by telling The Arizona Republic that "it will be a cold day in Gila Bend" when he would ever quit the Republican Party.
Besides responding to the McCain developments, Vance mostly focused on immigration and the economy during his Thursday campaign swing in Phoenix. He hammered Harris on the southern border and made the populist argument that homeownership and the ability to enjoy a nice dinner shouldn’t only be available to the wealthy.
In the wake of a school shooting in Georgia that killed four people, Vance said he doesn't like that such incidents are a “fact of life” and added that there should be more security in schools. He called the deadly shooting a “tragedy.”Vance said that school shootings happen in states with strict and lax gun laws, although the researchers at the National Library of Medicine found in 2019 that states with more permissive gun laws and greater gun ownership see more mass shootings.“Clearly, strict gun laws is not the thing that's going to solve this problem,” Vance said. “We have got to bolster security in our schools.”
Ammar Moussa, a Harris-Walz campaign spokesperson, compared Vance's remark to Harris saying Wednesday that "it doesn’t have to be this way" in response to the school shooting.
“Vice President Harris and Governor Walz know we can take action to keep our children safe and keep guns out of the hands of criminals," Moussa said in a written statement. "Donald Trump and JD Vance will always choose the NRA and gun lobby over our children. That is the choice in this election."
Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the wife of Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., also responded to the Vance visit on behalf of the Harris campaign. Giffords was shot in the head and nearly killed in a 2011 assassination attempt.
“Arizonans value our freedoms and our families. But Donald Trump and JD Vance’s Project 2025 agenda would stomp out our freedom to make decisions about how we start those families. Trump brags about overturning Roe v. Wade, which endangers IVF treatments and abortion access, while Senator Vance mocks women who are unable to have children,” Giffords said in a written statement. “Mark and I are one of thousands of couples who were trying to grow our family through IVF before I was shot and our dream was stolen from us. We didn't have a choice. This is personal. I am working tirelessly to elect Kamala Harris because she will fight to protect freedom and ensure Arizonans’ choices remain our own.”
Too hot: JD Vance rally attendees braved triple-digit heat to hear him. Some needed medical help
Vance went on a charm offensive during a visit to a campaign office in Phoenix earlier in the afternoon. Joined by his wife, Vance told stories about his childhood and his mother and grandmother.
He also took selfies ― and questions ― from voters after brief remarks at the Trump campaign office. Vance was hoping to draw a contrast with Harris' campaign.
“Kamala Harris thinks that she shouldn't have to persuade you,” Vance said. “Donald Trump and I are trying to persuade the American people.
“That's why we get out there and talk to every single person, even sometimes some of our hostile media friends in the back. Because if you're afraid of the American media, how are you ever going to do the job?”
Supporters who spoke with Vance at the campaign office were largely concerned with the integrity of the November election. Trump and his allies claimed for years that the 2020 election was stolen in Arizona, although no evidence of widespread fraud was found after an extensive review of the election. A criminal case against Arizona’s fake Trump electors from that cycle is ongoing.
Trump has played coy about whether he would accept the results of the 2024 election if he loses. He doubled down on claims that Democrats will “cheat” during a visit to Phoenix in August.
Vance tied their concerns to immigration, a topic he came to Arizona with plans to highlight. The Ohio lawmaker pointed to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, a Republican-backed congressional proposal to require voters to provide documentary proof of citizenship when they register to vote.
“We’ve got to get people out of here and not let them vote in our elections,” Vance said.
Later in the afternoon, Vance toured the manufacturing facility for PING golf clubs, a spot where McCain years earlier campaigned for reelection to the Senate.
During McCain's May 6, 2016, tour of the PING facility, he defended his decision at the time to continue supporting Trump.
On Thursday, Vance donned security glasses and observed the production of the clubs with his wife.
After the tour, Vance spoke with employees and the company owners about issues facing PING and its workers. He said young people should view manufacturing as a viable career path, and that a four-year college degree should not be the only way to make a comfortable living. He also discussed tax issues that the owners face when making a succession plan for who will take over PING in the future. He also promised to expand tax cuts passed during the Trump administration.
Vance was on his second swing through Arizona since becoming the Republican vice presidential nominee.
Vance campaigned Wednesday at a rally at Generation Church in east Mesa. He previously headlined a rally in Glendale and visited the U.S.-Mexico border in Cochise County.
He and his wife at 7:14 p.m. boarded his plane at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to leave Arizona.
Arizona is a crucial battleground state in the 2024 presidential election. Four years ago, Biden narrowly carried the state over Trump and became the first Democrat to do so since President Bill Clinton won Arizona in 1996. Before Clinton, no Democrat had carried Arizona since President Harry Truman in 1948.
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Dan Nowicki is The Arizona Republic's national politics editor. Follow him on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, @dannowicki.
Stephanie Murray is a Republic national political reporter. Follow her on X @stephanie_murr.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: JD Vance in Phoenix: Trump running mate speaks at Arizona Biltmore