GOP vice presidential nominee JD Vance slammed Gov. Tim Walz’s handling of the 2020 riots and portrayed Minneapolis as a city in decline during a brief visit to the Twin Cities on Monday.
VP nominee JD Vance visits Minneapolis, portrays it as city in decline
“The story of Minneapolis is coming to every community across the United States of America if we promote Kamala Harris to president of the United States,” Vance said, echoing comments Trump made about Detroit just days earlier.
The Minnesota Star Tribune
October 14, 2024 at 8:14PM
The Republican U.S. senator from Ohio attended a private fundraiser in the Twin Cities on Monday before making an unannounced stop at the shuttered Third Precinct police station that was set ablaze in 2020. He was joined by a group of retired Minneapolis police officers. Vance said he spoke with Minnesotans throughout the day who were concerned about the state’s largest city.
“People talked about moving out of Minneapolis. People talked about the 1,400 businesses that were destroyed, a lot of them who are own by minority members of this community. People talked about how Minneapolis had one of the great quality of lives five, six years ago, but thanks to the leadership of Tim Walz has now become overrun with crime,” Vance said.
”The story of Minneapolis is coming to every community across the United States of America if we promote Kamala Harris to president of the United States,” Vance added.
Vance’s comments echoed former President Donald Trump, who just days earlier insulted the city of Detroit while campaigning there: “Our whole country will end up being like Detroit if she’s your president,” Trump said.
Waves of violence washed across the nation in 2020. Since then, many states are still above pre-pandemic homicide rates. Minnesota’s homicide rate was half the national rate in 2023 and ranked among the 15 lowest.
The Monday campaign stop was Vance’s first trip back to Minnesota since late July, when he and former President Donald Trump rallied together in St. Cloud. Trump hasn’t been back to the state since, and it’s unclear if he will before Election Day on Nov. 5.
No Republican presidential candidate has won Minnesota since Richard Nixon in 1972. A Star Tribune/MPR News/KARE 11 Minnesota Poll conducted last month found that Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz held a 48%-43% lead over Trump and Vance in Minnesota. Harris hasn’t been to the state since she became the nominee.
Vance acknowledged Monday that Minnesota is “a bluer state” but said he thinks he and Trump still have a chance of winning it.
”You’re obviously rowing uphill in a state like Minnesota, but I think a lot of Minnesotans are just sick of the garbage, they’re sick of the lack of common sense in our government, and we have a real opportunity to turn Minnesota red, he said.
Asked if Trump himself will return to Minnesota before Election Day, Vance said, “I don’t know … My guess is that President Trump will be back in Minnesota before the end of the election, but we’ll see.”
Vance arrived in Minneapolis late Monday morning just as his vice-presidential counterpart Walz boarded a plane headed for Eau Claire, Wis.
Walz was scheduled to participate in an unspecified political engagement in Eau Claire on Monday afternoon before heading to Green Bay, where he was set to attend another event alongside Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers and Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer.
Data journalist Jeff Hargarten contributed to this report.
This is a developing story, check back for updates.
The Republican U.S. Senator from Ohio is making his first trip to Minnesota since a St. Cloud rally with former President Donald Trump in late July.
