JD Vance’s Midwestern appeal doesn’t seem to have much pull in New England.
The vice president, 42, was met by a barrage of protesters during his trip to Brewer, Maine, to campaign for Republican House candidate Paul LePage ahead of the midterms.
Local news outlets reported that protesters lined the streets holding signs that read “Go Home HillBilly,” referencing Vance’s hit 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. Others wielded signs reading “ICE Gestapo Murder,” likely referring to an immigration agent fatally shooting a man in a vehicle in Biddeford, Maine, in July.
“Personally, I am horrified when I see people killed in the street. This is a moment for us to express ourselves and show our anger at the way this administration behaves,” Nancy Jacobson, a protester, told WGME. A spokesperson for the vice president did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The protesters weren’t the only bump in Vance’s trip on Monday. The vice president seemed to have left his usually smooth-talking demeanor back in D.C., stumbling through questions from reporters during a rally.
Vance was asked about the president’s trade war with Canada and its impact on Maine. He acknowledged that Maine is a border state with Canada and insisted they’re trying to get a fair deal. But then, he was distracted by basic geography.
“We have to remember, Canada is a state—sorry, Freudian slip,” Vance struggled. “That was actually an accident. Canada is a country.”
His blunder came after Trump has repeatedly suggested that Canada should be the 51st state. As recently as Monday morning, he suggested he would treat the country like a state “no longer” as he issued trade threats. Later on Monday, he intentionally mistitled Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney as “governor.”
When asked about the fatal ice shooting that demonstrators were protesting, Vance’s answer also fell flat. When a reporter noted that Democrats have accused the Trump administration of not investigating it, Vance pushed back, saying, “In that particular case, I don’t want to comment on it; I don’t want to prejudge all the details.”
But then Vance proceeded to comment anyway—and defend the federal agents. “What the law enforcement officers argue is that that person posed a danger to the community,” he said.
“Again, I’m not going to prejudge the case because I think everybody is entitled to their, their case not in the court of public opinion but a court trial by their juries, an actual real investigation if that’s what ultimately happens,” Vance added. “Everybody is entitled to understand what’s going on, whether what they’re being accused of is actually legitimate, and ultimately of course, if there is a criminal prosecution, then they’re entitled to a jury by their peers.”
He then suggested Democrats worried about investigating killings by ICE, which he referred to as “that situation,” should “have a little bit of perspective.”
