Since Vice President Kamala Harris rose to the top of the Democratic ticket and became former President Donald Trump’s opponent, Sen. JD Vance has conducted over 70 media hits, sat down with liberal podcast hosts and conservative commentators alike, appeared on all five Sunday shows and regularly engaged with reporters.
But his effort to reach out to a wider array of voters now faces a setback. Vance and Trump both claimed that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating pets — a move that has alarmed some Republicans who want the campaign to focus on their opponent Harris and the state of the economy, a top issue for both parties ahead of November.
“They need to get their heads out of their asses and get dead-set focused on the swing voters,” GOP strategist Ryan Horn said. “And stop paying attention to what their base is saying online.”
While some Republicans on Capitol Hill have also embraced these claims about Haitians eating dogs, cats and geese, others are privately pressing Trump’s campaign advisers to refocus on inflation, border security and Harris’ policy positions — issues they say are core to winning in November.
A GOP Senate aide, who was granted anonymity to candidly discuss the matter, said “there is a very bright, thick line” between hammering Harris over what they see as her “failed” record on border policy and spreading false claims about immigrants eating family pets in Ohio.
“It undercuts our message, certainly,” the aide said.
With less than two months until Election Day in an incredibly tight race, each side is eager to get their message out in battleground states. For the Trump campaign, that message has fallen on Vance — especially as the former president often veers off script during his public appearances and speaks primarily to conservative media outlets. Even when he held an hourlong townhall with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, Trump didn’t take any questions from audience members.
Vance’s media strategy was intentionally designed to appeal to undecided voters in the center by drawing a contrast between Trump’s campaign and Harris’ operation, according to a person close to the campaign who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the strategy. But while the Ohio GOP senator still speaks about the border or the economy, issues that Trump’s side says Harris is vulnerable on, Democrats are now hammering him and the former president on the pet claims.
GOP Rep. John Duarte, who represents a blue district in California, argued the largest movement of votes in this election will be among “lower income, working families who are simply up against the wall on meeting their daily needs right now.”
“And it doesn't matter how much distraction there is around bizarre immigration issues,” Duarte added.
Rep. Mike Lawler of New York, another vulnerable Republican, said earlier this week that he had not heard anything to verify the “wild claims” about Springfield and urged his colleagues “to exercise great restraint when spreading unfounded theories and claims based off of posts on Facebook.”
Vance and his allies, however, have continued their attacks over the pet-eating claims, which began to gain steam last week and then became a national issue when Trump, during his debate with Harris on Tuesday, brought it up. Vance has pointed to unverified videos and police audio of Haitian migrants stealing geese, obtained by the conservative leaning outlet The Federalist, as evidence that their claims are true.
Vance, who is set to go on Sunday news shows tomorrow, posted on X Friday that Americans shouldn’t “let biased media shame you into not discussing this slow moving humanitarian crisis in a small Ohio town.” Vance allies and other Republicans have argued the topic is salient to battleground voters and have accused local officials of trying to cover up the instances of immigrants eating family pets. Vance’s team has also refuted that the issues in Springfield have distracted Vance from talking about the economy: The Ohio senator did an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box on Thursday mostly focused on the economic issues.
On Friday, Trump said at a press conference in California that he would enact mass deportations starting from Springfield and send the immigrants, who are Haitian and in the country legally, to Venezuela.
Vance’s team pushed back on concerns that talk of Springfield is a distraction, and reiterated the issues in the city are a direct result of Harris’ immigration policies. In a statement, Vance’s team claimed that Springfield residents are dealing with problems such as housing and car insurance costs, local school system costs, diseases and hazardous road conditions because of the immigration influx.
“Make no mistake: the immigration crisis affecting towns like Springfield is exacerbating the affordability crisis they've been dealing with for years,” Vance spokesperson William Martin said in a statement. “President Donald Trump and Senator JD Vance will put a stop to this madness by securing our southern border, deporting illegal aliens, and restoring the historic success and prosperity of the Trump economy."
Before the pet-eating news cycle, GOP strategists not involved with Trump’s campaign had said they were impressed with Vance, who they say is a reliable messenger, stays on topic and isn’t afraid to go before unfriendly audiences. Vance even spoke to firefighters in the liberal bastion of Boston and was booed at the event.
“I love it. I think it's smart. It's a sharp contrast between him and Gov. Walz," Wisconsin GOP strategist Bill McCoshen said, prior to the debate. “[Vance] is disciplined on his messaging, which is refreshing for Republicans.”
Harris, meanwhile, has done only a handful of formal interviews since becoming nominee, though she’s set to speak to a panel of reporters Tuesday at an event hosted by the National Association of Black Journalists.
The Harris campaign did not respond to inquiries about her strategy. But following the recent round of rather disappointing polling, Harris’ team posted her positions on a suite of major policy issues to her campaign website Sunday night.
Doug Herman, a Democratic political strategist from California, said having more frequent interviews makes each media hit less consequential — something he said Harris and Walz could benefit from.
“It would help them down the line to have these press events be less monumental,” Herman said about Harris and Walz, before the debate. “There should be more access to them.”
Walz also has notably been reticent to answer reporters’ impromptu questions. The Minnesota governor won his role on the ticket in part for slicing into Republicans in a string of colorful cable news hits and by effectively branding them as “weird.” But he’s largely stuck to scripted stump speeches and appearances on friendly social media platforms while steering clear of several attempts by reporters to question him on tougher topics during a series of recent campaign stops.
Recently, Walz ventured into his first series of solo new interviews, with radio outlets in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. Though, most were less than revealing of his stances on key policy issues. One host asked him about his favorite Culver’s order. (It’s a mushroom and Swiss burger, onion rings “most of the time” and a plain custard.)
Teddy Tschann, spokesperson for Walz, said the governor is “is crisscrossing the country to speak directly with voters in every battleground state about the Harris-Walz plan to protect freedoms and ensure every person has the opportunity to not just get by, but get ahead,” when asked about his media strategy.
Before Vance and others amplified the claims against Haitians, Republicans had been betting that his constant attacks on Harris would increase pressure on her to answer reporters’ questions on policy that she’s so far largely avoided — including sharp departures from her unsuccessful bid for president in 2019.
Harris’ more cautious approach so far in this race appears to have come at a cost, with 28 percent of likely voterssaying in a recent poll that they want to know more about her. And, despite her strong debate performance last Tuesday evening, early polling still showed Harris down double digits to Trump on the economy.
And some GOP strategists have been making the case to House Republicans and the Trump campaign that now is the time to focus on kitchen table issues and broaden their message to college-educated men by hitting topics like retirement savings and extending the Trump tax cuts.
Asked if he’d like Trump and Vance to focus more on contrasting their record on the economy with Harris, Duarte replied: “I’d like them to, but we know that’s going to ebb and flow.”
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