At a campaign gathering in the lobby of the Pennsylvanian in Downtown Pittsburgh, Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance set his focus on criticizing the Democratic ticket, talking up natural gas — and repeated controversial remarks about a local immigrant community.
Vance slammed Democrat Kamala Harris, blaming her for not doing more to address inflation and border security — two frequent talking points for the Trump campaign and for Republicans in general.
Vance claimed that “criminal gangs” and illegal immigrants are moving into communities, and cited Charleroi, Pennsylvania as an example of a place where immigration has caused problems.
“When we add thousands upon thousands of children of illegal aliens to Pennsylvania schools, children who can't even speak their local language, that means American citizens lose quality in their education,” he said.
He also blamed long hospital wait times on illegal immigrants receiving “free health care.”
“I feel terrible for anybody who’s got to take their kid to the emergency room, because you're going to wait longer than three hours, because there are millions of people in the United States of America who don't have the legal right to be here,” he said.
School district leaders in Charleroi have previously told WESA that they are receiving state help to cover additional expenses. The district’s roughly 225 English-language students this year will also eventually bring the district an additional $2 million per year from the state, money that will cover costs for additional staff administrators have had to hire. The district's superintendent has said some teachers are worried that their students have been scapegoated.
Treading familiar ground, Vance said one way to decrease inflation in the state would be to increase energy production. More drilling for natural gas and decreased regulation would make it easier to build more homes, he argued. He also criticized Harris’s past statements opposing fracking, though Harris has since said she now supports the practice.
“If you want to lower prices on American families, the most important thing to do is unleash Pennsylvania energy workers, he said. “Drill, baby, drill: That’ll lower prices for all of us.”
He said the best way to get people back to work is to make sure that inflation is low and that money workers earn can support them – and to lower taxes, so that people can keep as much of their wages as possible.
“A lot of people are not going to choose to work if they work 40 hours a week, 50 hours a week, and they can't afford food, they can't afford to buy a house,” he said. “This inflation that we've experienced under Kamala Harris's leadership, we've got to make the dollar worth a dollar again, and that’s something Donald Trump and I are going to fight for every single day.”
In a press call after the event, Mayor Ed Gainey criticized Vance and Trump, saying that Trump helped big corporations “rip off workers.”
“Donald Trump and JD Vance’s extreme Project 2025 is not something that we need in this commonwealth,” Gainey said, referring to an extensive set of policy proposals which, although Trump has disavowed them, were crafted with input from members of his previous term as president.
“We remember quite well what happened under his administration,” Gainey said. “We don’t want that to happen again.”
But the mood was celebratory at Vance’s event. Attendee Ashley Starcher of Meadowlands, PA said she really loves Vance’s views, and hopes he will be the next president after Trump.
“He’s just amazing, he’s eloquent, he’s just what we really need here in America right now,” she said. “He’s pro-oil, he’s pro-gas, he’s everything that we embody here in southwestern Pennsylvania.”
Dan Hedberg lives in New Jersey, but was visiting family in Pittsburgh. When he heard that Vance was going to be in town, he said he “needed to be part of it.”
Hedberg said he attended two Trump rallies before, but this was his first time seeing Vance in person.
“We’re hoping that the message will get through that freedom truly is on the line,” Hedberg said.
