JD Vance Campaigns in Ohio, Promotes White House Agenda and Attacks Opponents
CANTON, Ohio — Vice President JD Vance dropped by a steel factory here Monday to trumpet the White House agenda — namely a “big, beautiful bill” that polls indicate most voters don’t like.
The visit also gave a glimpse of how Vance will be deployed, not just to sell President Donald Trump’s policies, but also to campaign for Republicans in next year’s midterm elections.
It was the second time in three weeks that Vance found himself talking up the megabill in a battleground for partisan control of the House. He played defense in Pennsylvania’s 8th District this month, offering a shoutout to Rep. Rob Bresnahan, a vulnerable Republican who was in the crowd. Vance switched to offense Monday in Ohio’s 13th District, scolding Rep. Emilia Sykes, an endangered Democrat, for voting against the bill.
“You know who we don’t have in the house right now? We do not have Congresswoman Emilia Sykes,” Vance said in his half-hour speech to workers and local political leaders at Metallus.
“And you know why she’s not here today?” Vance continued before he mentioned a couple of provisions in the bill that Trump often emphasizes. “Because she’s not celebrating no taxes on tips. She’s not celebrating no taxes on overtime. She’s not celebrating the highest rising take-home pay in 60 years, because she fought us every step of the way on the big, beautiful bill.”
Vance, a former senator from Ohio, also contended that Sykes and others who were unhappy with the bill would have been welcome at the White House to hash out their differences.
“The next piece of legislation that comes along, why don’t you work hard for the people in this room, and we’ll work right alongside with you?” Vance said. “Why don’t we have a Democratic Party, my friends, that instead of trying to tear down Donald J. Trump works with Donald J. Trump to build up this great American company and great American community?”
Sykes, in a telephone interview afterward with NBC News, took issue with Vance’s characterization of the bill and of her involvement in fighting it. She also questioned whether the no-tax-on-overtime clause would apply to many of the workers Vance visited with Monday.
“I certainly wished he would have used this opportunity and the office of the vice president to tell the truth,” Sykes said. “Instead, he chose the opportunity to lie to my friends and neighbors.”
Sykes added that she was not invited to the event.
“That’s why I was not there,