Former President Donald Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance held an indoor rally at Apply Valley Events in Sparta, just north of Grand Rapids. Hundreds of people came out to the event in support of the Trump-Vance campaign.
Vance spent about 45 minutes addressing the crowd and taking questions from the media, the U.S. Senator from Ohio focusing his remarks on immigration, jobs, and what he called the elephant in the room: The recent assassination attempt on Donald Trump’s life, and what he says is the Democratic rhetoric that leads to these attempts.
“Do I think the rhetoric is all one-sided? Of course not. Right? There are absolutely people on our side who say things that I think are ridiculous that they shouldn’t say. But what is one-sided is that our guy is the one who keeps getting shot at.”
Vance also spoke on why he believes Michigan’s population is declining amidst state efforts to draw legal immigrants here to bolster economic competitiveness.
“Why have people left Michigan in the last 15, 20 years? Two things: high taxes and a lack of good jobs. So, the idea that the solution to a lack of jobs is to import a lot more people here who are going to compete with Michiganders for the jobs that are here? No. Create More jobs. That’s how you bring people back to Michigan.”
Michigan is considered a key state in the battle for the White House.
This is Vance’s fourth visit to the state since being named Trump’s running mate in July.