Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance returned to Michigan on Wednesday, joining supporters in West Michigan as he slammed President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on immigration, manufacturing and the rising cost of living.
Vance, the running mate of Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, spoke outside Cordes Inc. in Byron Center, and said communities like this had been cast aside by Washington D.C. politicians.
“Now politicians come into places like Michigan, they say nice things, but they crush our industries. They offshore our jobs, and they undercut American wages with illegal labor,” Vance said. “You my friends have been betrayed, and the people who have been doing the betraying have gotten rich off of this country’s decline, and it’s time to call them out, and it’s time to kick them out of office.”
Vance blamed Harris for rising consumer prices, slamming the vice president for casting the tie-breaking votes in the U.S. Senate in support of the American Rescue Plan Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, calling the former “nearly $2 trillion in reckless spending.”
Vance also referred to the Inflation Reduction Act a “radical left wing spending wish list, which spent millions and billions of dollars on green energy scams,” blaming inflation and rising energy costs on clean energy spending.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration projects that 2024 would represent the slowest rise in electricity rates since 2020. Electricity prices increased by an annual average of almost 7% between 2021 and 2023, which the administration says was caused by the fluctuation of “highly volatile” natural gas prices.
A report from Climate Power — a communications firm focused on building support for climate action — credited the Inflation Reduction Act with securing $361 billion in investments and 312,900 new jobs in 47 states and Puerto Rico, including jobs in battery manufacturing, electric vehicle manufacturing, and solar and wind manufacturing.
Michigan was among the leading states in clean energy manufacturing, securing $25 billion in investments and 21,490 new jobs, including 14,306 jobs in low-income areas.
Vance also blamed the Biden-Harris administration for job cuts in Michigan’s auto-industry, falsely stating that Harris supported extending the North America Free Trade Agreement, an agreement with Canada and Mexico which critics say is to blame for job losses, wage stagnation and the decline of U.S. manufacturing.
Vance also touted Trump-era tariffs on China, saying a lot of American workers benefited from the policy
While Trump has said his administration’s tariffs saved the American auto industry, a report from Politifact found that U.S. companies purchased their parts from other nations, though the tariffs led to a 3% increase in gross domestic output for auto parts. However, China raised its own tariffs in response, leading to a significant reduction in auto exports to China.
At the close of his speech, Vance said a second Trump presidency would restore hope in the American dream.
“When we say that we will make America great again, we mean something simple: safe streets for our families, a secure border, affordable food for our children and the American dream. Whether it’s to buy a home or to see your children do better off than you did, that is achievable again. Let’s get it done,” Vance said.
Ahead of Vance’s rally, physicians from across the state hosted a call to share concerns on the future of abortion care and in vitro fertilization, asking the senator to properly outline his policy stance on both procedures.
“Voters should be made aware of Senator Vance’s past comments and his current deflection that the states can decide, which is a policy that has proved dangerous and very disrespectful to girls and women,” said Iris Ford, an urgent care physician who worked in rural Kentucky early in her career and delivered between 100 and 150 babies a year.
While Vance stated in 2022 that he would like to see abortion banned nationally and previously defended the lack of exceptions for rape and incest in a Texas abortion ban, he has since echoed Trump’s stance that the issue should be left to the states.
“J.D. Vance has stated that he does not support exceptions to those abortion bans for rape or incest. He says two wrongs don’t make a right and he also suggested that rape resulting in pregnancy was inconvenient,” Ford said. “I have treated patients who survived these sort of traumas, and I can assure you that they are not inconveniences. No survivor of rape or incest should be forced to carry her attackers baby, period.”
Ford also highlighted stories of how abortion bans across the U.S. had resulted in women facing negative health impacts after being denied care as a result of the bans, noting that women in Idaho are being airlifted to other states where abortion is not banned for emergency care.
Michigan Democrats also sounded the alarm on how a Trump-Vance presidency could impact labor and healthcare in the state.
“Just the other night, Donald Trump was openly laughing with Elon Musk about how he would fire workers who went on strike. And the UAW even filed federal labor charges against him for threatening and intimidating workers,” U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-Lansing) said on a Zoom call prior to Vance’s speech.
“Bottom line, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance will never miss an opportunity to screw workers. If there’s two things Michigan voters hate, it’s Buckeyes and politicians that lie to them, and J.D. Vance is both. Michiganders don’t want to go back to the chaos and the craziness and the dishonesty of Donald Trump and his new VP pick,” Stabenow said.
Stabenow also criticized the Trump administration’s economic policy and spoke out against Project 2025, a list of far-right policy proposals assembled by the conservative Heritage Foundation that
includes plans for reshaping the federal government, reversing course on climate efforts, restricting access to the abortion pill and barring hospitals from providing emergency abortion care.
“JD Vance’s spin doesn’t erase the facts, the lives, the livelihoods, that were lost under Donald Trump’s disastrous handling of the economy and COVID. We can’t afford to go back, and we definitely cannot afford their dangerous Project 2025 agenda,” Stabenow said.
While the Trump campaign has repeatedly attempted to distance itself from the more than 900-page list of proposals, a review from CNN found 140 former members of the Trump administration, including six former cabinet members, had contributed to the document. Stabenow also noted Vance’s connections to one of the project’s lead authors, having written a forward for Heritage Foundation President Kevin D. Roberts’ upcoming book, “Dawn’s Early Light.”
“We’re seeing jobs begin to come home from overseas. When we’re talking about 44 new manufacturing facilities and counting? That’s real, and we’ve got more growth in small businesses than we’ve had in 50 years. And more wealth in the Black community, 60% more wealth,” Stabenow said. “So people are beginning to really see that and feel that. It takes a while to move the ship around from trickle down economics, which Donald Trump and JD Vance espouse, to really focusing on growing the middle class. And so people are beginning to see that now.”
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Susan J. Demas for questions: info@michiganadvance.com. Follow Michigan Advance on Facebook and X.
