JD Vance to visit Waukesha on Sunday in hopes of winning over Catholic voters
Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance will stop at a Waukesha airplane hangar Sunday evening in hopes of winning over local Catholic voters.
Vance, a Catholic convert, is planning to speak at 5 p.m. at Stein's Aircraft Services, 2651 Aviation Drive, near the Waukesha County Airport.
In what's likely to be a tight race, Vance wants to make the case that his running mate, former President Donald Trump, is the better choice for Catholics, who as of 2014 made up about a quarter of the Wisconsin population. The Ohio senator has been a key part of efforts to mobilize conservative Catholic voters in swing states, including Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Meanwhile, Democratic candidate, Vice President Kamala Harris, is visiting Wisconsin for the second time in a week. She will also be in Waukesha County — at a "moderated conversation" with Liz Cheney on Monday. The campaign did not confirm the location of the event.
More: Takeaways from VP Kamala Harris' campaign stops in Milwaukee, La Crosse, Green Bay
The Trump-Vance campaign said Harris has "disrespected" Catholics during her time in President Joe Biden's administration, claiming Biden scheduled Transgender Day of Visibility to fall on Easter earlier this year.
The day of visibility has taken place on March 31 every year since 2010, according to a Reuters fact check. The date of Easter changes each year based on the church calendar, and the two holidays happened to coincide.
In general, Catholics do not vote as a bloc. About half — 52% — of Catholic registered voters identify with Republicans, and 44% identify with Democrats, according to Pew. Hispanic Catholics tend to lean more Democratic, while white Catholics lean more Republican.
A Marquette University Law School poll from early October found 36% of Catholic respondents in Wisconsin supported Harris while 52% supported Trump.
The Harris campaign issued a statement in response to the announcement that Vance would visit Wisconsin.
“JD Vance has been too busy defending Donald Trump’s increasingly unhinged and extreme behavior over the past month to campaign in Wisconsin – all while Vice President Kamala Harris and Governor Tim Walz have been traveling across our state sharing their plans to lower costs, protect reproductive freedoms, and chart a new way forward. His trip will remind Wisconsinites that a second Trump term would be even more dangerous than the first, with his Project 2025 agenda giving him virtually unchecked power and control over our daily lives, with essentially no guardrails.”
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: JD Vance to campaign for Trump in Waukesha, remark on Catholic issues