For Vance at VP debate, facts about Haitians and Black votes don’t matter
Though the vice presidential debate between the Democratic nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and Republican nominee, U.S. Sen. JD Vance, was uncharacteristically cordial, and many felt Vance outperformed Walz, critics aren’t mincing their words about Vance’s inability to tell the truth.
“JD Vance is OK pushing a lie that he knows is a lie, perpetuating it on a national stage before millions of people,” Democratic strategist Ameshia Cross told theGrio. “It doesn’t matter to him who it harms.”
During the Tuesday night debate, Vance, who for weeks parroted lies about Haitian migrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, went out of his way to interject when CBS moderator Margaret Brennan clarified for viewers that “Springfield, Ohio does have a large number of Haitian migrants who have legal status.”
The fact check was in response to Vance, who in defending criticisms from Walz on his past comments about Haitian immigrants appeared to suggest Haitians were not in the U.S. legally as a result of “Kamala Harris’ open border.”
Walz slammed his Republican opponent, who he said “vilified” and “dehumanized” a “large number of people who were here legally in the community of Springfield.”
“Governor Walz brought up the community of Springfield, and he’s very worried about the things that I’ve said in Springfield,” said Vance. “You’ve got schools that are overwhelmed. You’ve got hospitals that are overwhelmed. You’ve got housing that is totally unaffordable because we brought in millions of illegal immigrants to compete with Americans for scarce homes.”
Cross said that “when given the opportunity to clean up the comments on Haitian migrants,” Vance “chose not to.” This is despite the Republican governor of Ohio, the Springfield city manager and others publicly saying that his claims were false.
“He has painted Haitian migrants and migrants broadly as a scapegoat for America’s woes,” the Democratic strategist continued. “It’s something that we’ve seen that working-class white Americans particularly have jumped on when it comes to their push for deportation of migrants.”
Cross added, “This is about xenophobia and racism, and it was on full display last night as well.”
Jamarr Brown, executive director of the civil rights advocacy group Color of Change PAC, said that while Vance has received some praise for his debate performance, he wasn’t impressed.
“There may have been many folks who think that he is articulate or that he’s a great debater, and actually, I think that he is just really slick and slimy,” Brown told theGrio. “He lied, he ducked and he dodged all the real facts and answers to the questions.”
“Governor Walz reinforced he and Vice President Harris’ commitment to serving all people, not just the rich, the white, and the well-connected,” said Brown. By contrast, he said Vance “did nothing but parrot the same tired playbook of former president Trump.”
He added, “Including claiming to support policies that will help Black people but in actuality supporting policies like repealing the Affordable Care Act and expanding corporate tax cuts that will cause extreme harm.”
Cross said she was disturbed by Vance’s refusal to say Donald Trump lost the 2020 presidential election, which is a lie both Republican leaders have repeated for years and throughout the 2024 election cycle.
She said it was a “slap in the face” to voters — particularly Black voters — who “got up during a pandemic, risked their health to actually get out of the vote because they cared about this country.”
Cross said it’s “disappointing for the Black people who cast their votes that Donald Trump was trying to nullify,” adding, “It tells Black people that our votes don’t matter.”
Vance also falsely suggested that Trump engaged in a peaceful transfer of power, despite the Jan. 6, 2021mob attack on the U.S. Capitol. Not to mention, Trump currently faces federal criminal charges for his involvement in trying to stop the certification of the 2020 election results.
Brown said Jan. 6, powered by Trump, was about a majority white political party losing its power to the people.
“It’s not just Black people, it’s brown people, it’s tribal nations in places like Arizona who showed up in a tight margin,” he noted. “When you have people of color, people who have typically not been reflected in the higher leadership of our government and of our democracy, that scares Republicans.”
Brown dismissed Vance’s claims about a peaceful transfer, telling theGrio, “There’s not a peaceful transfer of power when on the day that the results are supposed to be certified, you send in a mob and told them to march down to the Capitol and don’t let them steal this election.”
He also added, “[Trump] didn’t attend the inauguration, which is also a symbolic ceremonial transfer of power. He left town before Biden got to town, and so he is not about the rule of law. He thinks he’s above the law.”
Trump and Vance’s refusal to accept the 2020 election results — despite being litigated in courts at least 60 times — also sets up a similar scenario in the 2024 election. The former president previously refused to commit to accepting the results this November.
Brown emphasized that this is happening as Republicans in states like Georgia, North Carolina and Texas purge voters from the voter registration rolls for “a number of reasons.” Black voters, he said, must stay “vigilant.”
“They can, at this point, enact the same types of initiatives they were trying to do in 2020 to prevent Black people from making it to the polls,” he said. “We have to stay a part of the process and part of the system to make sure that the Donald Trumps and the JD Vances of the world don’t get to unfairly wield power to maintain stability for themselves.”