Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), the Republican vice presidential nominee, privately told donors that the emergence of Vice President Harris’s campaign was a “political sucker punch,” breaking from former President Trump’s previous messaging.
“All of us were hit with a little bit of a political sucker punch,” Vance said Saturday about President Biden suspending his campaign, The Washington Post first reported.
“The bad news is that Kamala Harris does not have the same baggage as Joe Biden, because whatever we might have to say, Kamala is a lot younger,” Vance said at the Golden Valley, Minn., fundraiser. “And Kamala Harris is obviously not struggling in the same ways that Joe Biden did.”
Since Biden dropped out and endorsed Harris, Democrats have thrown their support behind the vice president’s campaign. She’s broken donation records and secured enough delegates to clinch the Democratic Party’s nomination at next month’s convention.
Publicly, the Trump campaign has said Harris replacing Biden has not changed the race. Trump allies have targeted Harris’s role in the Biden administration, particularly on immigration and inflation, and suggested she misled the public about Biden’s fitness.
After Biden dropped out, Vance joked he was “kind of pissed off” that he won’t be able to debate Harris as vice presidential candidates, now that she’s poised to take on Trump. He also warned voters that Harris was a “million times worse” than Biden.
At the weekend fundraiser, Vance didn’t offer as strong of an opinion about Harris.
“We have a very unique opportunity, but also a very unique challenge, because, let’s be honest, 10 days ago, the two candidates who were running for president, everybody had an opinion about ‘em,” Vance said, according to the Post. “Love ‘em or hate ‘em, everybody has an opinion about Donald Trump and Joe Biden after the past eight years. But Kamala Harris, people don’t really know.”
The Hill has reached out to the Vance and Trump teams for comment.
In a statement to the Post, Vance spokesperson Will Martin said polling shows Trump leading Harris because “voters become aware of her weak, failed and dangerously liberal agenda.”
“Her far-left ideas are even more radio-active than Joe Biden, particularly in the key swing states that will decide this election like Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin,” Martin’s statement said.
While still early, polling generally has shown good news for Harris, since she’s polling better than Biden, but experts are saying the race is still very much up in the air.