JD Vance calls Democrats threat to democracy after Biden exits 2024 race

By Jenny Leonard

Republican Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance called President Joe Biden’s departure from the 2024 race a “threat to democracy,” using the same rhetoric he decried just days ago, following the assassination attempt against Donald Trump.  

“What is going on in this country is absolutely disgraceful,” he said Monday in Middletown, Ohio, during his first solo rally since being named Trump’s running mate last week, adding that Democratic party leaders pressuring Biden to step down is an “insult to voters.”

Vance, following the shooting at a Trump rally earlier this month, was quick to blame Democrats for the violence, saying their comments calling Trump a threat to the country instigated the attack. 

“The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” he said in a post on X immediately following the attack. “That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”

There is no evidence suggesting that the gunman was motivated by political ideology on either the right or the left. Trump’s right ear was grazed by a bullet, which he has covered with a bandage since the shooting. 

The assassination attempt led to members of both parties calling to tamp down heated political rhetoric in the run-up to the November election. Those calls have been short-lived. Trump, in his Republican nomination acceptance speech last week, began with calls for unity but then segued into darker language lambasting immigrants.

2024 Focus

The fervor surrounding the race has only intensified in recent days, with Biden dropping out of the race on Sunday and endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris to be his party’s nominee. She has quickly sown up support from other major Democrats, likely positioning herself to lead the ticket.

“The idea of selecting the Democrat Party’s nominee because George Soros and Barack Obama and a couple of elite Democrats got in a smoke-filled room and decided to throw Joe Biden overboard, that is not how it works,” Vance said Monday. “That is a threat to democracy.”

Vance joked that he was upset he doesn’t get to debate Harris now because she will face Trump on the debate stage in September. It’s unclear if Vance and whoever will be the vice president on the Democratic ticket will debate before the election.