Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance spent about 50 minutes savaging Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris on Wednesday in Reno using statistics and road-tested humor.
A crowd of about 700 people filled a showroom in the Silver Legacy casino.
“She goes around the country and she says things like, ‘On Day One, we’re going to tackle the affordability crisis for our families’ and ‘On Day One, we are going to secure the southern border,'” Vance said to chuckles from supporters who knew where he was going.
“I think all of us with a lick of common sense are thinking to ourselves. ‘Kamala, Day One was 1,400 days ago. What the hell have you been doing?'”
He said Nevadans pay $1,100 more per month because of inflation under the Biden-Harris administration than they did under former President Donald Trump.
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The claim comes from a report by the Republican Joint Economic Committee in the U.S. Congress that shows the average Nevada household pays $1,195 more per month now to purchase the same basket of goods and services than it did in January 2021.
In addition to asking supporters to vote early and get their friends and family to vote, Vance also focused on the border.
“I'm not mad at anybody who wants to come to the United States of America,” he said. “I am mad at Kamala Harris for opening the border and making the American Dream unaffordable for American citizens.”
Among those in attendance clapping along to Vance's remarks were Washoe County Republican Party Chair Bruce Parks and nonpartisan candidate Greg Kidd, who is hoping to unseat Republican Rep. Mark Amodei in Nevada's 2nd Congressional District.
Vance makes fun of Harris
Insults — told in a light-hearted, exasperated tone — came fast and furious.
Harris transitioned from doing no interviews after being nominated to doing softball interviews, he said.
“The problem, of course, with a softball interview is that you've still going to be able to hit a softball,” he continued.
Harris’ interview on “The View,” Vance said, should’ve ended her campaign.
“What would you have done differently than Joe Biden?” he said, repeating the question Harris fielded.
“The ultimate softball. She should have been able to knock that one out of the park, give an answer that defines her campaign. But she kind of gets a blank look and says, ‘Well, nothing comes to mind.’ And then I thought to myself, ‘That could maybe be the campaign slogan of Kamala Harris: Nothing comes to mind.’”
Question on transgender women in women’s sports
After delivering about 25 minutes of prepared remarks, Vance took questions from local reporters.
“If elected, what specifically would you do to prevent transgender women from playing in women's sports because the University of Nevada, Reno’s president — a Republican — said it’s against the state constitution to forfeit a game for reasons related to gender identity?” one local TV journalist asked.
Vance said he thinks Title IX — which covers sex-based discrimination in educational settings — should protect the interests of girls.
“This is a public safety issue, especially with contact sports,” he said. “I'm the father of a 2-year-old daughter. I don't want my little girl to grow up to compete in sports and then to get bludgeoned by a man. That's disgusting. It's disgraceful.”
Vance added, “In the name of a far-left lunatic progressive idea, we are destroying girls' sports in this country. It's going to have ramifications far beyond just athletic competition.”
Question on Vance's past criticism of Trump
Vance was asked about a 2020 message that he sent on Twitter, now X, where he said Trump had “thoroughly failed to deliver on his economic populism.”
Vance blamed the media.
“When Donald Trump was running for president (in 2020), I bought into a lot of the media lies about him,” he said.
“Once you get to know the guy and once you realize that the media is saying dishonest things about him and his record, you realize one, you can't trust the national press, but two, Donald Trump's a pretty damn good guy and he did a very, very good job.”
He said Trump’s economic record speaks for itself.
“Sky-high wages, low inflation, a secure southern border, a safer country for Americans — he was a very, very good president, and he's going to do it again if the people in Nevada give him another opportunity to be their president.”
Democratic response to Vance’s Reno visit
Nevada Press Secretary Amahree Archie released a statement saying that Vance and Trump are fighting for billionaires and not the state’s working families.
“Their Project 2025 agenda would raise costs for typical families by nearly $4,000 per year, cost the U.S. over 3 million jobs, and allow employers to stop paying many workers overtime, all while giving tax breaks to his billionaire donors,” she said.
“To protect workers and Nevada families, we must come together to elect Vice President Harris, who will not only eliminate taxes on tips, but go further by raising the minimum wage, and take on corporate landlords to bring down housing costs across the state.”
Mark Robison is the state politics reporter for the Reno Gazette Journal, with occasional forays into other topics. Email comments to mrobison@rgj.com or comment on Mark’s Greater Reno Facebook page.
This story was updated to add a video.