CLEVELAND, Ohio – Critics of Ohio Sen. JD Vance frequently accuse him of making inaccurate statements on the campaign trail, and they seek to correct the record.
But this week, one major news network called out Democratic vice-presidential candidate Gov. Tim Walz for a pair of false statements he made about Vance, the vice-presidential nominee, during a recent rally in Pennsylvania.
Walz was referring to the 920-page Project 2025 blueprint for right-wing policies and a radical reshaping of the executive branch drawn up by the Heritage Foundation. Former President Donald Trump has sought to distance himself from the report, but it has been a central focus of attacks from Democrats, who note that well over 100 former Trump staffers were involved in drawing it up.
A fact check by CNN disputed Walz’s statement, saying that while Vance once did make a reference to being “ruthless” when exercising power, he never said they “will use” Project 2025 in that way. In fact, the comment to which Walz was referring was made before Project 2025 launched.
Vance, in the May 2021 interview with The Federalist, a conservative publication, said “I think the thing that we have to take away from the last 10 years is that we really need to be really ruthless when it comes to the exercise of power.”
He added that, since conservatives have “lost every major powerful institution in the country, except for maybe churches and religious institutions,” achieving real change “will require us completely replacing the existing ruling class with another ruling class.”
While Walz and Democrats may argue that Trump and Vance, because of their ties with people who drew up Project 2025, might use the document, once in office, Vance’s quote to The Federalist predates the Project 2025 by months.
The Heritage Foundation launched the project in April 2022 and didn’t release its policy recommendations until April 2023.
At the same Pennsylvania rally, Walz accused Vance of getting a crowd to boo at lowered interest rates.
“We saw Senator Vance lead an audience when he said, ‘Well, they reduced interest rates this week. How terrible is that?’ And he got the crowd booing. Who boos for lower interest rates?” Walz said.
But CNN said that what really happened was that, at a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, the crowd appeared to independently start booing after a reporter asked Vance for his reaction to the cut by the Federal Reserve. The reporter had asserted in the question that the cut would “alleviate inflation for a lot of people.”
Vance had started responding to the question in a neutral tone, saying, “Well look, my reaction is …” CNN reported.
When the crowd booed the question, he paused briefly. Vance then said that the Fed’s half-point reduction wasn’t enough to make up for the inflation families have faced in the Biden-Harris era. But he also said, “It’s better than nothing.”
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Cleveland.com is closely tracking JD Vance’s every move and the reactions he provokes, as he becomes the first Ohioan in 80 years to appear on a presidential ticket for either major party. The coverage of JD Vance aims to provide a daily snapshot of the buzz surrounding him, capturing what he says, what he does, and what others are saying about him.
