JD Vance: Catholics feel abandoned by Biden and Harris

Senator JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential candidate of the United States, at a religious rally on October 20 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, accused the Biden-Harris administration of persecuting Christians and Catholics in particular.

In his speech, Vance also spoke about religious freedom and the impact of inflation, illegal immigration and drug addiction.

“There are many Catholics… (who) I think rightly feel abandoned by the leadership of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and are just looking for someone to protect their rights and make this country an affordable and decent place to raise a family,” Vance said at the Sunday afternoon rally in the battleground state.

“I think that’s true for many Catholics,” Vance said. “It is also true for non-Catholics. But we cannot have an American government that persecutes Christians for living their faith. “We should reward people and encourage them to live their faith.”

Vance chastised Harris for her support of “suing Catholic nuns to force them to perform procedures that violate their conscience.”

The accusation appears to refer to Harris’ support in 2019 for the Ley “Do No Harm”which would have ended religious freedom exemptions for certain government mandates, including health insurance coverage. It would have reduced the Religious Freedom Restoration Act’s protections so the government could force religious employers to include coverage of abortion and transgender surgeries in their health insurance plans.

Democratic lawmakers introduced the legislation to push back against the Little Sisters of the Poor, a Catholic community of religious women who were suing the federal government over a mandate that their health insurance plan cover abortion. The nuns won in the Supreme Court.

“I think that’s ridiculous,” Vance continued. “I think we are a big enough country that we can really respect the right of people of faith to live according to their conscience and not try to impose Kamala Harris’s progressive values.”

The Trump campaign has also criticized Harris for her scrutiny of judicial nominees for being members of the Knights of Columbus and for a leaked internal memo from the Richmond FBI that called for an investigation into an alleged link between so-called “radical traditionalist Catholics.” and “the far-right white nationalist movement.” Trump also criticized Harris for not attending the Al Smith dinnerwhich raises money for Catholic charities and is traditionally attended by both major party candidates.

“Kamala Harris is the candidate of anti-Christian, anti-Catholic bigotry,” Vance said. “She brags about it. That is his political record. “Donald Trump is the candidate who will defend the First Amendment right to practice their faith as they wish, because this is the United States of America, and we believe in religious freedom in this country.”

Vance also blamed Harris and President Joe Biden for the rising cost of living, a result of high levels of inflation. He blamed government spending for inflation, which he said hurt families and “made food unaffordable for American citizens.”

Additionally, Vance blamed Biden and Harris for the flood of migrants entering the United States illegally. He said his border policies have made Americans less safe and led to an increase in drugs laced with fentanyl in the country.

On a personal note, Vance referred to his mother’s past struggle with opioid addiction, saying “she’s been clean and sober for 10 years, and we’re proud of her.”

“That, to me, is the grace of God,” he said. “I know that in this room, (many people) believe that God sometimes works in mysterious ways, but He works every day in the lives of the citizens of this state and this country. I am living proof of that, my friends.”

“But as we pray to God for a recovery and fight every day for those of our loved ones who are being caught in this situation, wouldn’t it be nice to have a president of the United States who would stop this poison from entering our country in the first place? place?” Vance added.

Hundreds of people attended Vance’s rally, which took place outside Milwaukee, the state’s largest city. Several people held campaign signs that said “Catholics for Trump.” Vance is a convert to Catholicism and noted during the speech that he was “baptized for the first time in 2019” and “returned to my faith when I was young.”

“I know all of you are praying for me, and I know we have a lot of pro-Trump Catholics,” Vance said. “I see the signs here. Thank you, Catholics, for Trump.”

As he spoke, an attendee loudly shouted “Jesus is king,” to which Vance responded, “That’s right, Jesus is king,” and received loud cheers and applause from the crowd. This appeared to be in reference to an incident that took place at a Harris rally two days earlier. Two college students say they were asked to leave a Harris rally after allegedly shouting, “Jesus is Lord.” However, a video circulating on social media shows that someone from the audience also shouted “liar! liar!” before Harris told them they were “at the wrong rally.”

“Whether you are a person of Christian faith or not, Donald Trump and I are going to fight for your right to live your values ​​because that is what the First Amendment protects,” Vance said.

According to an average of surveys of RealClearPollingTrump and Harris are virtually tied in Wisconsin, a state with 10 Electoral College votes. In the seven battleground states with the closest races, polls show Trump with very narrow advantageswith Harris less than two percentage points behind on each, well within the margin of error.

Some recent polls show that Catholic voters are almost evenly divided over the 2024 presidential election. According to a Pew Research Center survey in September, about 52% of Catholics support Trump and 47% support Harris. A survey conducted by el National Catholic Reporter found that Catholics in the seven most contested swing states preferred Trump by 50% to Harris’ 45%.

Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.