Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance blamed Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris for high housing costs and gave credit to former President Donald Trump for lowering the cost of insulin in a wide-ranging exclusive interview with Scripps News’ Wisconsin station TMJ.
Scripps News' Charles Benson spoke with Vance before his planned remarks at the Milwaukee Police Association headquarters.
Housing costs
Vance argued that Vice President Harris is responsible for high housing costs in the U.S. due to her border policy and tiebreaking votes in the U.S. Senate.
"Kamala Harris let in 20 million illegal aliens to compete with Americans for scarce homes," Vance said.
Most independent analyses estimate there are 11-12 million unauthorized immigrants in the U.S., but many Republicans believe those figures are underestimates.
Watch: JD Vance gives exclusive interview to Scripps News Milwaukee's Charles Benson:
Data from the Migration Policy Institute shows home ownership among the population of people living in the U.S. illegally is at 28%, or just over 3 million.
"Second of all, [Harris] cast multiple votes, tiebreaking votes, that raised interest rates, which of course makes mortgages totally unaffordable for American families," Vance added.
Vance said that if elected, Trump's administration would build more houses and "kick out the illegal aliens who are competing with Americans for homes."
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Prescription drug prices
Many politicians have taken credit for a new $35 cap on insulin for many Americans, and Vance told Benson that former President Trump should be chief among them.
"All the policies ... that drove the cost of insulin to $35 a unit, are policies that [Trump] actually enacted during his term, and now consumers are starting to see the benefit," Vance said.
"Some of this stuff takes a long time, but President Trump’s leadership did more to drive down cost than any president in my lifetime."
Vance also took issue with American companies selling drugs in Europe for lower prices than Americans pay.
"We have American companies that are selling drugs way cheaper in Europe than they are in the United States of America, so sometimes that means we’re going to have to re-import stuff from Europe," he said. "If European consumers are paying less, then American consumers should pay less too."
Red flag laws
Vance told Benson that he's not opposed in principle to keeping guns out of the hands of violent offenders, but that certain conditions need to be met.
"I think pretty much everybody agrees you want to keep guns out of the hands of violent felons, but only after they’ve had a fair court process under law," the senator from Ohio said. "We don’t want to take rights away from anybody, whether they’re gun rights or First Amendment rights, without due process."
Vance said he and Trump would protect law-abiding gun owners, while at the same time promoting public safety. He also said that the key to reducing the crime rate was to incarcerate more individuals.
"If you look at the reason why we have increased murders, increased homicides over the last few years, it’s because we don’t lock up enough violent criminals. The gross majority of violent crime is committed by a very very small number of people."
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Murder rates have decreased by more than 26% in 2024 compared to 2023, according to data from the FBI.
Benson and Vance also discussed trade, after recent news that Wisconsin mainstay brand Harley-Davidson is moving some production overseas to Thailand.
Trade and tariffs
Benson asked Vance if domestic workers should be concerned about Trump's call for higher tariffs. Vance said he supports the practice.
"Tariffs are one of the things that actually protect American manufacturing workers. The Chinese are trying to make things in East Asia, they’re using effectively slaves to make them. American workers shouldn’t be expected to compete with slaves, they should be expected to compete with other workers," Vance said.
Vance touted Trump's record on promoting American manufacturing during his term as president, claiming that he opened more than 10,000 factories during his four years in office.
"If you compare President Trump’s record, the 16 years before he was president, 60,000 factories closed down. The four years he was president, 12,000 factories opened up in the United States of America."
The vice presidential candidate's last visit to Wisconsin came on Aug. 7, when he spoke in Eau Claire on the same day as Democratic nominee Kamala Harris and her vice presidential pick, Tim Walz.
Harris will be in Milwaukee next Tuesday for an appearance of her own.
Vance responds to Trump's Medal of Freedom comments
After the interview with Scripps News Milwaukee, Vance was asked by local reporters about comments made by Trump on Thursday. Trump had stated that the Presidential Medal of Freedom he awarded Miriam Adelson in 2018 was "actually much better" than the Medal of Honor, which is given to members of the military.
Trump's comments drew swift condemnation from the Harris campaign.
Vance, a Marine veteran who served in Iraq, defended Trump's remarks.
"President Trump said during a ceremony that a person who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, he was saying some nice things about her," Vance said. "He was saying complimentary things about her. Donald Trump I have seen give out a Congressional Medal of Honor, I have seen him give out a number of awards and commendations to military veterans, and of course, I myself am a veteran of the Marine Corps of the Iraq war. This is a guy who loves our veterans. I don't think him complimenting and saying a nice word about a person who received a Presidential Medal of Freedom is in any way denigrating those who receive military honors. They are two different awards."
The Medal of Honor is sometimes referred to as the Congressional Medal of Honor, as it is bestowed by the president on behalf of Congress.
The Presidential Medal of Freedom is given to honor civilians by the president.
"We gave Miriam the Presidential Medal of Freedom," Trump said. "That's the highest award you can get as a civilian. It's the equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor, but civilian version. It's actually much better because everyone gets the Congressional Medal of Honor — that soldiers, they're either in very bad shape because they've been hit so many times by bullets or they're dead. She gets it and she's a healthy, beautiful woman. It's great and they're rated equal."
Adelson, the majority owner of the NBA's Dallas Mavericks, has been a significant contributor to Trump's presidential campaigns.
This story was originally published by Scripps News Milwaukee.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to add independent estimates for the number of unauthorized immigrants in the U.S.
