Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), the Republican vice presidential nominee, made a pitch to supporters of independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after Kennedy’s running mate suggested the two campaigns may join forces.
“I’ve never talked to RFK about this, but my pitch to him and to a lot of his voters would be, the Democratic Party of my grandparents that supported his uncle, John F. Kennedy, for president has been completely abandoned by the modern leadership of the Democratic Party,” Vance said Wednesday on Fox News’s “Fox And Friends.”
Vance said he thinks it would be good for former President Trump’s campaign to team up with Kennedy and his running mate, Nicole Shanahan.
He criticized the current Democratic Party, contrasting it with Democrats from years ago who he said cared about “strong borders,” American manufacturing and “strong national security.”
“This modern Democratic Party is focused on division. It’s focused on putting people into racial and gender buckets and then using those divisions for political power, and it doesn’t believe in anything common sense like American manufacturing or a strong American border,” Vance said.
Kennedy’s long-shot campaign is waning as support for Trump and Vice President Harris has swelled at their respective nomination conventions in recent weeks.
Shanahan, Kennedy’s running mate and a political newcomer, strongly implied on a podcast Tuesday that the campaign could come to an end soon to support Trump.
“We are taking a very serious look at making sure that the people that have corrupted our fair and free democracy do not end up in office in November,” she said.
Shanahan said the Kennedy campaign has two options: It can stay in the race but “run the risk” of a Harris presidency by pulling votes away from Trump, or it can “walk away right now and join forces with Donald Trump.”
Vance said he believes the Democratic Party has “gone so far in the leftward direction” that Kennedy wouldn’t be welcome, should his campaign end and he want to join Harris.
He said he hopes Kennedy endorses Trump and joins their effort, “because this [is] about saving the country, Democrat or Republican. It’s about saving the country through common sense.”
“And unfortunately, there’s only one political party that really represents common sense anymore. It’s Donald J. Trump’s Republican Party,” Vance said.