Today, ahead of JD Vance’s rally in Radford, Virginia leaders slammed the Trump-Vance ticket and underscored how their dangerous and extreme Project 2025 agenda would hurt Virginians’ freedoms, their livelihoods, and our democracy.
As Vance comes to Virginia for the first time as Trump’s Vice Presidential nominee, his and Trump’s Project 2025 agenda will be front and center – an agenda that Virginians have rejected time and time again – passing a national abortion ban, raising taxes by $2,500 on working families, and giving Donald Trump unlimited, unchecked power.
See just some of the comments from Virginians:
Senator Mark Warner: I hope JD Vance knows that in Southwest Virginia, actions speak louder than words. I’ve led the charge on rural broadband deployment so that no one has to move to San Francisco like JD Vance did to find a world-class job.
Senator Tim Kaine: JD Vance is campaigning in Virginia today. The Trump-Vance Project 2025 agenda is clear: give tax cuts to the rich, ban abortion & contraception, & decimate the federal workforce—hurting many Virginians. Vance can visit all he wants, but I know VA will reject their extremism.
DPVA Chairwoman Susan Swecker: As someone born and raised in Appalachia, I know two things about JD Vance: He forgot where he came from and he doesn’t care about working class people. Those of us who grew up in rural counties can forgive a lot of things like it says in the Good Book, but we can’t forgive a sellout. We know he is nothing but a fraud and a con artist who supports Donald Trump’s extreme Project 2025 agenda to ban abortion, slash Social Security and Medicare, and raise prices for working families while giving tax cuts to billionaires. His extremism isn’t welcome here in Virginia, and we’re going to make sure to defeat him and Trump in November – just like we did last time. This election is a choice between a ticket led by Kamala Harris who is fighting for Virginians and Donald Trump who is fighting against us.
Congressman Gerry Connolly (VA-10): I was in the Capitol on 1/6 when [there was] a deadly riot to overturn an election. JD Vance says he would have blocked the certification of the election and given into that mob. He even endorsed a rioter for Congress. No one with those values should be Vice President.
Congressman Don Beyer (VA-08): Trump picked JD Vance because he promised to do what Mike Pence wouldn’t on January 6th: overturn an election. Vance supports a national abortion ban with no exceptions. He’s with Trump fighting for the wealthy and big corporations. Virginians reject this extreme MAGA agenda.
Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (VA-07): Today, JD Vance will be campaigning in Virginia. I hope he’ll explain his wish to fire “every civil servant” and replace them with “our people.” Thousands of Virginians are federal employees. Their livelihoods and service as civil servants shouldn’t be political punching bags.
Congresswoman Jennifer McClellan (VA-04): J.D. Vance is in Virginia today, but Virginians don’t want the extreme Trump/Vance/Project 2025 agenda of raising costs on the middle class, banning abortions and undoing our rights. Virginia rejected Trump twice, and will do so again in 2024.
State Senate President Pro Tempore, L Louise Lucas: Since JD Vance is coming to Virginia today I am hoping reporters will ask @GovernorVA and other Republican leaders if they agree with his statements that social security is our “biggest roadblock to fiscal sanity”. This matters to Virginians surviving on the money they earned.
Mayor Levar Stoney (Richmond): JD Vance is coming to Virginia today. Our message is clear: Vance and Trump have no business in our Commonwealth. Their racist and bigoted policies are not supported by our residents. We will reject the Trump/Vance ticket by electing Kamala Harris this November.
Senator Aaron Rouse: I hear that Trump’s running mate will be down in Radford today. I know Southwest VA and I know they’re not buying what he’s selling. Trump and Vance’s Project 2025 is about selling our government to the highest bidder — their billionaire friends — and leaving the rest of us behind. That’s not who we are in Virginia.
Delegate Josh Cole: I’m sorry we’re still on our high of our new presumptive nominee… and he brings his racist, anti-woman, for the rich-only agenda to Virginia…. They not like us… 🙁
Delegate Rae Cousins: Excited to work to elect @KamalaHarris as our next POTUS! I know that she will build on the accomplishments of @JoeBiden, including student loan debt relief, lowered prescription drug costs, building an economy for working people, and addressing the Black maternal health crisis.
Delegate Rozia Henson: JD Vance is stopping in Virginia, to push Trump’s Project 2025 agenda! […] In 2023, Virginia voters rejected a state abortion ban & we will reject Project 2025 this coming Nov election!
Councilman Liam Watson (Blacksburg): Look, I say this with all the love in my heart. If J.D. Vance is going to waste his time in the New River Valley today by spewing his tired, hateful rhetoric that paints Appalachians as lazy and ignorant…
…then he can get the hell out of my holler.
Jade Harris (DNC Delegate, VA-09): As a rural Virginian who grew up in Appalachia, I want to make something very clear. JD Vance is a sellout, an opportunistic class traitor, a liar, and he is NOT an Appalachian. He does not and cannot speak for us. His stunt at Radford today won’t change the truth about him.
Councilman Neal Osborne (Bristol): JD Vance will be making an appearance a couple hours up the road from us in SWVA. Gentle reminder that JD Vance isn’t from Appalachia, and his writings on Appalachian culture prove that point. However, if he was from Appalachia, he’d understand when I say, “bless his heart.”
Virginia Young Dems: Some things we know about JD Vance:
•He said Trump is “unfit to serve” as President
•He isn’t an Appalachian
•He is a sellout to the working class
•Most importantly, TRUMP AND VANCE WILL NOT WIN VIRGINIA THIS NOVEMBER
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