JD Vance visits Glendale, says it's time to tell Kamala Harris ‘You’re fired’

JD Vance bashed Kamala Harris as a “phony” and a “San Francisco liberal” who is “never gonna be the president,” during a rally in Glendale on Wednesday night, embracing his new role as former President Donald Trump’s campaign trail attack dog.

The rally marked Vance’s first trip to Arizona as Trump’s running mate, coming to a battleground state that Trump carried in 2016 but lost by fewer than 11,000 votes four years ago.

“It’s time to tell Kamala Harris ‘You’re fired,’” Vance said, invoking Trump’s reality TV slogan. “She has not received a single vote for president of the United States. The media calls it a coronation, I think we can call it a coup. And in America, we don’t crown our leaders, we vote for them.”

Arizona’s presidential race entered a new phase this month after President Joe Biden stepped aside and Harris became the Democratic Party’s presumptive nominee. Harris is still behind Trump in most Arizona polls, but she performs better than Biden did, prompting the GOP to campaign harder in the state.

Vance, a Republican U.S. senator from Ohio, attacked Harris on immigration, the economy and even her accent at a rally at Arizona Christian University. He played up the years Harris spent living in Canada as a teenager, and suggested she was complicit in covering up concerns about President Joe Biden’s age.

“Let us count the ways Kamala Harris has screwed up this country in the last three-and-a-half years,” Vance said. “On Nov. 5 she can go back to using her San Francisco accent because we are going to send her packing."

Harris has her own Arizona visit planned for next week. She’ll come to Phoenix with her soon-to-be-named running mate, according to the Harris campaign.

During his time on stage, Vance also praised Trump’s contentious interview at the National Association of Black Journalists conference, where the former president attacked Harris’s racial identity and asked the audience “is she Indian or is she Black?”

“Unlike Kamala Harris, President Trump showed up and took some tough questions,” Vance said.

Vance was introduced on stage by Turning Point Action boss Charlie Kirk, noting that his organization was among the first groups to endorse Vance for his Senate run in 2022. Republican Reps. Eli Crane, Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs of Arizona also attended the rally.

“I saw something in him that I’ve been looking for in the political landscape. He lived the experience of the Trump voter,” Kirk said. “He is the perfect complement to President Trump.”

To round out his Arizona campaign swing, Vance will tour the southern border in Cochise County on Thursday. Vance will be hosted by the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office and meet with fourth generation border rancher John Ladd to tour his property.

Vance has had a bumpy ride during the first weeks of his vice presidential bid. He faced controversy for his past comments about how “childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives” shouldn’t be running the country. His allies sought to combat that criticism from the rally stage in Glendale.

“Do you think JD Vance is anti-woman?” Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna asked before Vance took the stage, prompting the crowd to shout “NO!”

“Kamala Harris has zero motherly instinct,” Luna added, pointing to crimes that undocumented immigrants have committed during the Biden administration.

Trump brushed off concerns about Vance during that NABJ conference interview. The former president said Vance cares a lot about family, and noted that vice presidential picks usually don’t make a large impact on election results.

Vance embraced Republican Senate primary winner Kari Lake on stage, giving her a speaking slot before the rally began and then welcoming her on stage during his own remarks. Lake, who Vance endorsed in the primary, will face Democratic Rep. Ruben Gallego this fall.

“I got goosebumps because I realized what’s about to happen in our country. We’re about to get America back,” Lake said.

Lake took aim at Harris and “whoever the hell she chooses” as her vice presidential pick, saying they’ll have bad policies for the country. Lake didn’t mention that Harris is considering Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., for the number two spot, a signal that her campaign is taking Arizona seriously in its path to 270 Electoral College votes.

“Doesn’t matter. You could plug anybody in there,” Lake said. “We’ve got to stop them and I’m willing to work really hard.”

A former TV news anchor, Lake also took aim at mainstream media. She promised to bring her media expertise to Washington, D.C., if elected and restore the free press.

“Every single voice in this room is more powerful combined than the people on that riser,” she said, rallying Trump supporters.

The Harris campaign sought to tie Vance to Project 2025 ahead of his visit, slamming him on the sweeping policy proposal by a conservative think-tank with ties to Trump. The former president has distanced himself from the document, with top campaign advisers saying this week that “reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed.”

Earlier in the day, Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes and abortion rights advocates took aim at during a Harris campaign roundtable in Phoenix.

“I got a message for you, too, JD Vance,” Mayes said. “We’re going to defeat you — Kamala Harris is going to defeat you and your crazy ideas once and for all in November.”

She said everything is on the line in the upcoming election and Democrats should make sure Republican nominee Donald Trump and Vance don’t step into office.

“They want to ban IVF. They want to potentially ban contraception,” Mayes said. “We have a very extreme Supreme Court now, who have also made it clear they’re willing to go down that path.”

Mayes praised Harris for being one of the first people to call her in April when the Arizona Supreme Court upheld a near-total abortion ban law from 1864.

“Kamala Harris knew instinctively how awful that decision was and she said to me ‘Whatever you need, let me and President Biden know and you’ll have it to fight that decision,’” she said.

Back in Glendale, Vance received positive reviews from some Arizona voters at his rally on Wednesday.

“I think he’s got fresh and younger views. I think that’s what we need, somebody that’s fresh and goes along with what Trump values,” said Mark Kerns, 65, who is retired and lives in Mesa. Kerns said he feels like the country is at a “tipping point.”

Anissa Hickey, a 52-year-old nurse from Cave Creek, agreed that Vance was the right choice. She named the economy and immigration as her top issues and said she appreciated the youthful energy that Vance brings to the Trump campaign.Hickey didn’t know much about Vance before Trump tapped him to serve as vice president but said she listened to his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” and plans to watch the film adaptation.

“I was just really impressed. He served our country. He’s younger,” Hickey said.

Hickey is a bit worried about the November election, she said, but feels that Republicans have “a good message here that we really need to get out” to voters.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: JD Vance in Arizona: Time to tell Kamala Harris ‘You’re fired’