In Michigan, JD Vance knocks Kamala Harris on economy: ‘Are you better off?’

• JD Vance used a west Michigan speech to rail on Kamala Harris for inflation, grocery prices and other economic issues
• The Republican vice presidential nominee spoke in west Michigan, a former GOP stronghold where Democrats have made gains
• Vance argued communities like Byron Center have been ‘cast aside’ by ‘America’s ruling class’

BYRON CENTER — Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance argued Michiganders are worse off today economically than they were under former President Donald Trump, using a Wednesday campaign event to lay the blame at the feet of Vice President Kamala Harris.

“Are you better off than you were four years ago?” Vance asked from the stage of a west Michigan industrial park, where voters at the Republican campaign event answered with a resounding “no.”

Vance railed against Harris — the Democratic presidential nominee — for everything from increased grocery costs to electric vehicle policy and Stellantis plans to lay off  2,400 auto workers later this year.

“This November, we’re going to turn the page … on a generation of failed leadership,” Vance said in a roughly half-hour speech. “We’re going to make America great again, and we’re going to do it by electing Donald Trump as the next president of the United States.”

Despite heat and relentless sun, a few hundred voters lined the rows of folding chairs set up before a raised stage at Cordes, Inc., a trucking and transportation firm in Byron Center. Others sought refuge in the shadow of nearby businesses or trailers sitting around the rally’s perimeter.

Among them was Karen Hazekamp, a retired teacher from Stanton. She referred to Vance as “probably the most honorable person that has run on the Republican ticket for decades,” telling Bridge she didn’t understand the character attacks against him.

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“Anybody who calls him weird has not actually looked at his life, seen what he stands for and what he represents,” she said, referring to comments made by Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

In July, Walz referred to Vance and Trump as a pair of “weird dudes,” a characterization that has caught on among fellow Democrats. 

“They can call him ‘weird’ all they want,” Hazekamp said. “I’ll be weird then, too.”

A state ‘betrayed’ by ‘America’s working class’

In his second visit to Michigan this month —and third since he was tapped as Trump’s running mate — Vance portrayed Byron Center as being among the many cities across the United States that have been economically “betrayed” and “cast aside” by “America’s ruling class.”

Byron Center, an unincorporated community south of Grand Rapids, is home to about 7,431 people. Its average household income of $102,376 is well above the state average of $66,986, according to Census data. It's also more educated and has a higher employment rate than Michigan as a whole.

The community is part of Kent County, a former Republican stronghold that has swung Democratic in recent years, a trend that the Trump campaign is now attempting to flip back. 

Vance noted the area — as with other parts of the country — is struggling with the impact of inflation, which led to price spikes for groceries, gasoline and housing under Harris and Democratic President Joe Biden. 

Inflation rose dramatically in 2021 and 2022, topping out at 9.1% in June of that year, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. But those rates have stabilized in recent months and dipped to 2.9% in July, the lowest monthly figure since March of 2021.

Biden on Wednesday celebrated the latest data as evidence that the administration is making “progress fighting inflation and lowering costs," noting that wages have risen faster than inflation for 17 consecutive months.

Vance downplayed those numbers, however, saying they only proved inflation was “not going up as fast as it was three years ago.”

“That is not a reputation or a record to brag on,” he added. “That's a record to be ashamed of.”

The case for more jobs

Vance touted job growth under Trump, calling it "crazy" that the country had added nearly 7 million jobs during his presidency before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

But Democrats were quick to point out the U.S. lost jobs overall during Trump’s tenure, which included the first nine months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"JD Vance's spin doesn't erase the facts that lives and livelihoods were lost under Donald Trump's disastrous handling of the economy and covid," outgoing U.S. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Lansing, said in a press call before the campaign event.

Nationally, the country did initially add close to 7 million jobs under Trump, but then lost even more jobs early in the pandemic. The same was true in Michigan.

Michigan had gained about 83,000 jobs under Trump until March of 2020, when the pandemic first hit the state and prompted mass closures and layoffs. Overall, the state lost 316,000 jobs during his tenure. 

The state has gained about 421,000 jobs since Biden took office, accounting for a net gain of about 55,200 compared to the month before the COVID-19 pandemic began under Trump. 

Vance also used his Wednesday speech to tout “record unemployment” rates under Trump.

In Michigan, the unemployment rate under Trump bottomed out at 3.7% in late 2019, which was the lowest since it hit 3.2% in 2000. The rate fell to 3.6% in April and May of 2023, under Biden, but climbed back up to 4.1% in June. 

Bumpy claims on electric vehicles 

Vance additionally accused Harris of supporting electric vehicle mandates which he claimed took American tax dollars “and sent it to electric vehicles that are made in China instead of made right here in the state of Michigan.”

That will cost jobs, and not just for the automakers, Vance went on to say. “It's the people who are making the components — they are the ones who suffer when Kamala Harris sends her tax dollars to Chinese made cars."

It's not immediately clear what policies Vance was referencing, but there were some holes in his claims.

The Biden administration has not issued an electric vehicle mandate. It has, however, adopted tougher emissions standards that will require automakers to shift toward electric and hybrid vehicles.

As far as taxpayer money, subsidies to help consumers buy electric vehicles are limited to cars assembled in North America.  But the Biden administration has relaxed rules to give automakers some additional flexibility to use battery components from China, such as graphite, until 2027.

No cars made in China qualify for taxpayer-funded subsidies, however, and Biden in May applied steep new tariffs on Chinese EVs to deter their sales in the United States. 

‘Day one’ deportations

Vance also argued illegal immigrants are taking jobs and reiterated the campaign’s pledge that mass deportations would begin on “day one” under a second Trump administration. 

He made similar claims earlier this month in a campaign event in Macomb County, where he spoke at length about immigration and crime outside the Shelby Township Police Department. In July, he joined Trump on stage at a rally in Grand Rapids.

Vance ended the event by noting the campaign will be spending more time in Michigan, emphasizing the battleground status of a state Trump lost by 154,188 votes to Biden, who ended his reelection campaign in July. 

Harris replaced Biden on the ticket and, along with her new running mate, Walz, made two stops in Michigan last week, rallying with supporters at Detroit Metro Airport and speaking to UAW members in Wayne. 

Harris and Walz did not take questions from the press at either event, which Vance was quick to note on Wednesday as he invited reporter questions.

“You have got to stand before the American people and answer tough questions if you want to do this job,” he said. “It is scandalous that Kamala Harris is running from the media, but more importantly, she’s running from the American people. That’s a disgrace.”