Walz on Vance: ‘I guarantee you he can’t shoot pheasants like I can’

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) appeared to challenge Sen. JD Vance’s (R-Ohio) shooting skills, saying that the vice presidential hopeful cannot hunt pheasants like he can.

“That’s what JD Vance’s stick is, talking about guns. I guarantee you he can’t shoot pheasants like I can,” Walz said Tuesday on “Anderson Cooper 360°.”

“And that’s a part of saying, but you know what, I guarantee I don’t want weapons of war in classrooms. And there’s no reason that you can’t have reasonable restrictions around that without infringing on your Second Amendment,” he added.

Vance has heavily leaned into his personal story of his Appalachian roots as he makes his case as former President Trump’s running mate. He shared an anecdote during his speech to the Republican National Convention earlier this month about finding 19 loaded guns stashed around his grandmother’s house, which was met with loud applause from the audience.

Walz, a possible contender to be Vice President Harris’s running mate, has labeled Vance and Trump “weird.” The Harris campaign and other Democrats have jumped on the word to describe confusing and controversial past statements made by the Republican candidates, including Trump’s remarks on Hannibal Lecter and Vance’s past comments on those without children.

Speaking to CNN’s Anderson Cooper Tuesday night, Walz pushed back on suggestions that he was insulting supporters of Vance and Trump by calling them “weird.” Instead, he said Democrats need to make their cases to voters who think the party has “spoken down” to them.

“I grew up in a town of 400 and graduated with 24 classmates, 12 cousins. I know these people. They’re — this isn’t what this is about. I’m talking about those people there that we need to make the case to them,” he said.

“These are people that Democrats, they felt like Democrats have spoken down to them, that we’ve not gotten enriched where they’re at, that they’re trying to be who they are,” he added.

Walz further defended his use of the word on CNN, saying that calling Harris’s opponents “weird” is an “observation” and “not name calling.”

“He doesn’t scare Vice President Harris, but he opens up this idea that your previous guests were asking about, where’s the plan?” he said, speaking about Trump.

“He doesn’t have one and these weird ideas, I’ll stay to that. I still say this. People can feel this. Why does the guy never laugh? Like, we laugh with people but laughing at people? And why are you talking about Hannibal Lecter,” he continued.

The Hill has reached out to a Vance spokesperson for comment.