MILWAUKEE — President Biden dismissed Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as “a clone of Trump on the issues” in his first public remarks about former President Donald Trump’s running mate.
“I don’t see any difference,” the 81-year-old president told reporters under the wing of Air Force One as he departed Washington for a trip to Las Vegas.
Vance, 39, was announced by Trump, 78, as his running mate in a Monday afternoon statement that called him “the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States.”
The Biden-Harris campaign wasted no time attacking Vance, despite Biden’s Sunday evening call on Americans to “lower the temperature” after Trump was wounded in a Saturday afternoon assassination attempt.
“Clearly, Vance won Trump’s veepstakes by passing his MAGA litmus test with flying colors,” Biden-Harris 2024 Campaign Chair Jen O’Malley Dillon told reporters after the announcement.
“Trump picked JD Vance as his running mate because he will do what Mike Pence wouldn’t on January 6 — bend over backward to enable Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda.”
In a separate statement, she said, “Billionaires and corporations are literally rooting for J.D. Vance: they know he and Trump will cut their taxes and send prices skyrocketing for everyone else“.
Dillon further vowed that the campaign would spend the next three and a half months “making the case between the two starkly contrasting visions” between the two tickets.
Biden-Harris campaign officials drew attention to Vance’s opposition to abortion and the Affordable Care Act while seeking to tie him to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 and efforts by Trump allies to thwart the 2020 elections.
“They’re facing off against the Biden-Harris ticket, and I would take that matchup, any day of the week, and twice on Sunday,” Dillon added during remarks to reporters.
Trump has publicly distanced himself from Project 2025 and stressed that it’s not necessarily a reflection of his plans for a second term.
On Sunday, the Biden-Harris campaign confirmed that it would briefly pause negative ads against Trump in the wake of the failed assassination attempt against him during a rally in Butler, Pa. The campaign has long made clear that their battle to defeat Biden’s predecessor rages on.
“The path forward is a path that can certainly and must be resolved peacefully through debate and disagreement,” Dillon stressed, calling the election a choice that “will certainly shape the future of America, if not the world, for decades.”
The former president narrowly evaded death and serious injury when he was nicked in his right ear during the shooting. At least one person has been confirmed dead in addition to the suspected shooter. Two others were also injured.
Despite that security breach, Trump arrived in Milwaukee, Wisc. for the convention on Sunday.
Both Trump and President Biden have publicly stressed the need for national unity in the wake of the attack.
Trump publicly announced Vance as his choice for vice president mere minutes before officially getting voted by the GOP delegates as the presidential nominee at the first day of the Republican National Convention on Monday.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Biden-Harris 2024 National Advisory Board Member, blasted her colleague.
“Trump’s VP pick is great news for the wealthiest Americans and lousy news for everyone else,” she said. “With Trump-Vance, Social Security and Medicare cuts will bear down on seniors like an avalanche.”
The new GOP platform that was unveiled to the public last night expresses opposition to cutting Social Security and Medicare.
Vice President Kamala Harris has already agreed to debate Trump’s VP hopeful.
“I’ve known her for 15 years while she’s been in every kind of fight on behalf of working families,” Warren teased about the upcoming debate.
“She is strong. She knows what she’s talking about. And she doesn’t give an inch. And she has the better end of the argument,” she added.
In his announcement, the 45th president hailed Vance’s academic record, including at Yale Law School, and underscored that he “will be strongly focused on the people.”
Vance had long been rumored to be among the finalists in the veepstakes. Trump managed to keep his selection heavily guarded.
His son, Donald Trump Jr., publicly pushed for Vance, with whom he has long been friendly and admired his populist brand of politics.
The selection of Vance kicked the Democratic opposition research teams into gear. Vance is a lesser-known quantity relative to Trump, Biden, and Harris in the eyes of the public.
Therefore, opposition research teams will have an opportunity to try to spook the public on Vance in a way that’s much harder with Trump, who is so broadly known.
Vance had first been elected to his Senate seat in 2022 53.04% to 46.92% against former Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio). By comparison, Trump won the state 53.27% to 45.24% in 2020.
The freshman senator is a Marine Corps veteran, former venture capitalist and author of the book, “Hillbilly Elegy.”
If Trump and Vance succeed in winning the Nov. 5 presidential election, the Ohio senator could make history as the first vice president with significant facial hair since Charles Curtis, who served between 1929 and 1933.
The freshman senator could also become one of the youngest vice presidents in US history, a record held by John Breckinridge, who began at the age of 36. Vance is 39, but turns 40 in August.
Vance would be the third-youngest VP in history if he wins, behind Breckinridge and Richard Nixon.