4 takeaways from JD Vance’s rally near Big Rapids

GREEN TOWNSHIP, MI – U.S. Sen. JD Vance, the running mate of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, visited the key battleground state of Michigan on Tuesday to hammer topics like the economy, inflation and manufacturing just 70 days away from the November presidential election.

The vice presidential hopeful spoke Aug. 27 at Majestic Friesians, a horse farm in the rural mid-Michigan Green Charter Township, which is about an hour north of Grand Rapids. This was the fourth time Vance visited Michigan since he was announced as Trump’s running mate.

RELATED: JD Vance criticizes Gotion battery plant’s ties to China at Big Rapids rally

During his 25-minute speech on Tuesday, Vance continued to criticize current economic conditions, including high gas prices, housing costs, and grocery prices, blaming the Biden-Harris administration for high costs Americans are facing today.

Vance was joined on-stage by Michigan GOP politicians including former gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon, former US Rep Mike Rogers, who is running for Michigan’s open US Senate seat this fall, and Michigan GOP Chair Pete Hoekstra. Lori Brock, the owner of Majestic Friesians, also spoke at the event.

Here are four key takeaways from Tuesday’s rally:

The Gotion project has turned a rural Michigan township into a political battleground.

One topic that was highlighted by all of Tuesday’s speakers was criticism of the Gotion battery plant, a massive $2.36 billion battery parts factory planned for Green Charter Township, located on the outskirts of Big Rapids.

The Gotion battery plant has become a punching bag for the GOP nationally, with Republican legislators capitalizing on local frustrations over the project to hammer Democrats and stoke fears over the Chinese Communist Party.

RELATED: ‘No communist plot:’ Gotion addresses claims about Michigan battery plant

Majestic Friesians, the farm where Vance’s campaign rally was held, is located near the 270-acre development site for the planned Gotion battery plant.

Vance criticized Democrats for using taxpayer dollars to bring the Chinese company to Michigan. He also stirred up criticism linking the Chinese battery maker Gotion Inc. to the Chinese Communist Party, calling the project “a threat to America’s national security.”

“Kamala Harris not only wants to allow the Chinese Communist Party to build factories on American soil, she wants to pay them to do it with our tax money,” he told the crowd Tuesday.

Michigan awarded Gotion Inc. a $715 million incentive package including a 30-year tax break valued at $540 million and two grants totaling $175 million to bring the project to Big Rapids. Funding for the project came from the Strategic Outreach and Reserve Fund, a pot of economic incentive dollars that was developed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and the then-Republican controlled Michigan legislature in 2021 to lure big business to Michigan.

Many residents have raised concerns about Gotion Inc.’s ties to China and the environmental impact of the plant. During Tuesday’s rally, Dixon questioned the safety standards of the battery parts plant and its effect on Michigan’s waterways.

“We don’t even know exactly what chemicals they’re using, but we do know that they’ll be taking more than 700,000 gallons of our water every single day,” she said. “My concern with Gotion is not only, where does it come from, but where does it go after it’s contaminated?

“The environmental impact could be catastrophic, and it’s coming from the Chinese Communist Party.”

Kamala Harris sells herself as the candidate of joy. JD Vance calls BS.

Vance continued to hammer his opponent’s campaign message of joy during Tuesday’s campaign event, something he brought up at other Michigan rallies.

The presidential campaigns of Trump and Harris have often been contrasted in their tone, with pundits saying Trump paints a grim picture of the current state of America and Harris a message of joy.

But Vance contrasted Harris’ joyful message with the complaints of some Americans that the US economy was better off under former president Donald Trump than it has been under the Biden-Harris Administration.

“Kamala Harris has run her entire campaign on the idea that she’s joyful. But ask yourself, are you better off than you were four years ago?” Vance asked attendees, who shouted back, “No!”

Vance also continued to share concerns about the way Harris earned the top of the Democratic ticket when President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.

“The only person in America who could possibly answer yes to that question is probably Kamala Harris herself,” Vance continued. “She went from getting no votes for president and having to drop out, to getting no votes for president and becoming the Democratic nominee, all without lifting a finger. No wonder Kamala is joyful.”

With his mom in the audience, Vance opened up about how the opioid crisis has impacted his family.

JD Vance opened up about how his family has been impacted by the opioid crisis on Tuesday, sharing how his mom, Bev Vance, struggled with addiction to prescription pain pills.

With his mother in the audience, JD Vance said his family has suffered from the “failures” of Democratic policies, blaming illegal immigration for bringing down wages and making “our people poorer and our leaders richer and more powerful.”

“I’ve lived, and I know a lot of us in this crowd have lived, the consequences of these failures,” he said. “And I saw it very personally, my friends. My parents divorced, my family began to struggle. My mom, God love her, found solace in the prescription pain pills that a lot of kids and a lot of adults were getting hooked on, and then eventually, she moved on to some harder stuff.”

Vance said he feared he would lose his mom as a kid because of her addiction.

“I prayed every single day that she would somehow find her way to a second chance. And I’m very proud, my friends, to tell you, not only did my mom find a second chance, but she’s here with us today campaigning with me now,” he told the crowd on Tuesday.

Sweltering heat couldn’t stop the crowds from showing out for Vance.

It was a hot August afternoon in mid-Michigan on Tuesday, with temperatures soaring into the 90s and the heat index surpassing 100 degrees in Big Rapids.

But the sweltering heat didn’t stop hundreds of Trump supporters from attending Vance’s rally. The outdoor event drew a crowd of nearly 2,000 attendees, who sat in the sun for nearly two hours for the event.

Vance contrasted the crowd’s enthusiasm to Harris’ campaign rallies, claiming she needs the help of big name artists to pull big crowds. Some of the musicians that have performed at Harris’ rallies include Megan Thee Stallion and Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, while rapper Lil Jon performed at the Democratic National Convention.

“Y’all are fired up, and it’s hot out here,” Vance told the crowd at the start of his speech. “Kamala Harris, she needs a rock star to get a crowd like this. We just came out here because we’re patriots and we want to save this country.”

Severe thunderstorms did roll through Michigan on Tuesday afternoon, but they arrived in Big Rapids just after Vance’s rally. It began to rain around 2:30 pm, which was about an hour after Vance left the stage, and the heavy rain and winds narrowly missed the campaign rally.