In Nevada visit, JD Vance distorts Kamala Harris’ record on manufacturing jobs.

Vance used his speech in Nevada to suggest Harris’ policies led to the decline of US manufacturing. In reality, the number of manufacturing jobs in the US reached its highest level this year since the 2008 financial collapse. 

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance on Tuesday made his first campaign stop in Southern Nevada since being named Donald Trump’s running mate — making his direct pitch to voters that both parties say could determine the outcome of November’s election. 

Hundreds of people convened on Liberty High School in Henderson, where Vance rallied against likely Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, the current vice president and former longtime prosecutor who Vance asserted was soft on crime and has been the true architect of President Joe Biden’s first-term policies. Vance had a second stop scheduled in Reno later in the day. 

“Kamala Harris’ vision is for open borders and closed factories,” Vance said, misstating her positions. “The terrible affordability crisis, higher grocery prices, higher housing prices, it is destroying the American Dream and it is Kamala Harris’ fault.” 

Vance falsely blamed Harris and Democrats for policies he said has led to the decline of manufacturing jobs in the United States, when in fact, the US currently holds more manufacturing jobs now than at any time during Trump’s first term as president. 

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US in June recorded 12.9 million manufacturing jobs — roughly 130,000 more jobs than the 12.8 million measured in September 2019, which marked the highest point during the Trump presidency. The number of manufacturing jobs in the US notably also reached its highest level this year since the 2008 financial collapse. 

The manufacturing boom has been particularly significant in Nevada, which has added roughly 11,000 manufacturing jobs since Biden took office. 

That growth is due in part to legislation signed into law by the Biden-Harris administration, such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, which heavily incentivize companies to invest in domestic manufacturing. The laws include tax incentives for manufacturing companies that relocate operations to the US, which helped companies like Massachusetts-based Unimacts open a new solar parts manufacturing complex in Sloan, less than 10 miles from where Vance stumped on Tuesday. 

Additionally, experts say the administration is also utilizing public-private partnerships to spur investments from companies that might not otherwise wouldn’t have, such as the Brightline West high-speed rail project that seeks to link Las Vegas to Los Angeles. 

Debunking Vance’s claims on Harris’ record on trade and jobs

Vance, who became Trump’s VP pick after several tech billionaires lobbied Trump to choose him, also continued to depict himself as a right-wing populist on Tuesday, as part of his and Trump’s efforts to woo working-class voters. He did so by blaming Harris and Democrats for the loss of blue-collar jobs to other countries, where labor is cheaper. 

“Multinational corporations called the politicians’ offices, and they traded American jobs for campaign cash,” Vance said. “They bragged about trade deals and promised cheap consumer products. They called it globalization, and that’s what it was: American jobs in other parts of the globe. And if it’s up to Kamala Harris, it’s going to keep happening.” 

The offshoring of jobs began decades before Biden and Harris took office and happened under the watch of both parties. Vance particularly took aim at the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which was enacted in 1994 and had strong bipartisan support, including from Biden, who at the time was a senator from Delaware. 

Vance also attacked Harris because she was one of the 10 senators who voted against replacing NAFTA with a Trump-administration trade agreement — though Harris opposed the law because she felt the deal’s environmental provisions were “insufficient.” Harris and other Democrats have also been on record stating US trade policy should prioritize American workers, rather than corporations that could cut costs by outsourcing jobs, according to the New York Times. 

Though Trump has long said he’d bring jobs back to America, one of his signature legislative achievements in his first term was passing a corporate tax cut that benefited many of the same companies that offshored jobs. Some analysts, like those at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), have even argued that the legislation created new incentives for companies to move their jobs overseas. A 2020 report from the nonprofit, progressive consumer advocacy group also found that roughly 200,000 American jobs were offshored in Trump’s first term. 

While on the campaign trail this year, Trump has also repeatedly promised billionaires and CEOs he will again cut their taxes if they donate to his campaign.

The key legislation shepherded by Biden and Harris, however, includes provisions that require many new infrastructure projects to use union workers and pay prevailing wages, in an effort to boost workers’ pay.  

The fight for America’s working class voters

The fight to court America’s working class has also spilled out into Congress. 

After Trump visited Las Vegas in June, he announced a proposal to eliminate reporting requirements on tipped income. The move was initially treated with skepticism by unions like Culinary Workers International, due in part to Trump’s anti-union record, but was recently introduced in the US Senate and has gotten the support of both of Nevada’s Democratic senators. 

Most polls show Nevada as a toss-up in a matchup between Harris and Trump, but Michael Nevada Republican Party chairman Michael McDonald said Tuesday he hopes Trump’s policy on tips will help flip Nevada red. A Republican has not won Nevada in a presidential election since George Bush in 2004. 

“They don’t care about blue collar people,” McDonald said, adding he worked personally with Trump on the tip policy. McDonald also falsely stated the Biden-Harris administration has raised taxes on tipped income (it hasn’t). “They care about themselves and power.” 

But during her first week on the presidential campaign trail, Harris has vocally supported several policies that could help blue-collar workers: federal investments in affordable childcare and a national paid family and sick leave program. And speaking in Georgia on Tuesday, Harris said she would take on “price gouging and bring down costs.”

“We will take on corporate landlords and cap unfair rent increases, and we will take on Big Pharma to cap prescription drug costs for all Americans,” Harris said. 

While it’s not clear if Harris will garner the same support from labor groups that Biden had, it could very well be workers in states like Nevada, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin that determine the outcome in November. 

Vance on Tuesday made his pitch to an audience filled with Trump supporters.

“If you’re struggling to make ends meet, if you’re scraping by instead of thriving, if your hope is dwindling just as fast as your bank account, help is on the way, and his name is Donald J. Trump,” Vance said. 

While Vance’s messaging was well received by a friendly audience, whether it will sway enough voters to flip the state red for the first time since 2004 remains to be seen. 

But Trump’s path to the White House becomes much harder if his pitch falls on deaf ears.

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