JD Vance holds first solo rally in North Carolina

RALEIGH, N.C. — Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance held his first solo rally in North Carolina Wednesday, touching heavily on inflation, housing affordability and immigration.

With less than 50 days until Election Day and less than a month until early voters cast their ballots, the campaign trail is heating up in the Tar Heel State.

This was just one of the many rallies held within the past week, with both Democrats and Republicans fighting for the state’s 16 electoral votes. Vice President Kamala Harris held a rally in Greensboro last week. Gov. Tim Walz, Democratic candidate for vice president, held a rally in Asheville Tuesday and former President Donald Trump will hold a rally in Wilmington Saturday. 

Wednesday, Vance held a rescheduled rally from August at the Union Station for his first visit to the state’s capital. Supporters filled the venue, lining up outside of the station hours before the vice presidential nominee took the stage. 

After giving his opening remarks, Vance began talking about Harris’s policies on American energy production to the packed audience.

“When you go to war on American energy and you have a vice president who seems to hate her own energy producers, it’s not just bad for the people who are producing American energy. And it doesn’t just raise costs on consumers, though. It certainly does that. It empowers some of the worst people in the world because they’re all getting rich,” Vance said.

He said he and former President Donald Trump’s plan would be to “drill baby, drill” and have hopes to bring more production of manufacturing and farming back to America. 

“Our plan is very simply manufacture more in the United States of America, grow more food in the United States of America, self-reliance American jobs for American workers. That is the path to prosperity and also national security,” Vance said. 

Other topics included illegal immigration, which he said has increased the price of many things within the states, including taxes, and brought drugs and crime to the country. 

“Our message to illegal aliens who have come to this country, who’ve driven up the cost of housing, who have made it more expensive for Americans to afford a good life, to the drug cartels who have brought in pounds and pounds tons and tons of fentanyl into this country. Our message is simple. In six months, pack your bags because you’re going home,” Vance said. 

Trump’s running mate also stated how many North Carolina families are not able to afford a lifestyle they could have three years ago, blaming the Biden administration. 

“Home prices, especially here in Raleigh and some of the big cities, housing is completely unaffordable for young Americans. [It’s] 56% higher thanks to Kamala Harris’s policies. And I’ve got three kids, and I think I speak for all the parents and the grandparents out there. We want our young families to be able to afford the American dream of homeownership,” Vance said. 

Vance, who said he at one point used to live pay check to pay check, did comment on the inflation report that was released a few hours prior to his speech, to which he argued a half a point decline will not help Americans.