(WXYZ) — Before JD Vance attended a campaign event at Eastern Market in Detroit on Tuesday, the vice presidential candidate spoke one-on-one with Scripps News Detroit reporter Sarah Michals.
Related Video: JD Vance campaigns at Eastern Market in Detroit
Both the Trump and Harris campaigns have been making weekly visits to Michigan, a battleground state, as the presidential election nears.
You can watch the full one-one one interview in the video player above. The full Q&A with Vance can be found below:
Sarah: "You are in the Motor City, so I wanted to ask you, what are your thoughts on the union auto strikes that we saw here in Michigan last fall, specifically, would you yourself ever walk the picket line with union members?"
JD Vance: Yeah. So ... we had a strike in Ohio. I actually did walk the picket line with union members. I was one of the few who did it in Toledo at the Stellantis plant because, look, I believe in American auto jobs union and nonunion alike. And I certainly want to support the workers when they're just trying to get higher wages. I do think that we have to be really careful because, you know, under Kamala Harris's leadership, the electric vehicle mandate, if you fully implement that, it's going to destroy about 117,000 American auto jobs. A lot of them are going to be right here in Michigan, you know, President Trump and I believe that we've got the best auto workers in the world right here in Michigan. They can make whatever cars people want, whether they're electric vehicles or gas powered vehicles. But we ought to let the American consumers and the American workers make those decisions, not try to force everybody to buy an electric vehicle, which I think is going to destroy a lot of good jobs.
Sarah: "So I put a callout on social media this morning, I wanted to ask Michigan voters what they want to hear"
JD Vance: Yeah, that's awesome. I appreciate that. I'm very curious what they want, what they want you to ask me about.
Sarah: "I got a lot of questions on this topic, one Michigan voter wrote, what do you have to say to moderate Republicans who are disappointed with your stance on certifying the 2020 election?"
JD Vance: Yeah. Well, what I'd say is that, first of all, the 2020 election is in the past. Nobody disputes that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the president and vice president. Unfortunately, I think we've gotten a lot of bad policies because of it. But what President Trump and I have said is just that there — there are some issues that are worth debating that happened in 2020. For example, I think you saw some of the big technology companies censor American citizens in the run up to the 2020 election. You can believe in America's democratic process, but also criticize when big tech firms censor American citizens from speaking their voice. So I don't think whether you're a moderate Republican, an independent, a Democrat, you should be uncomfortable with us criticizing what's going on. We still, of course, believe in the peaceful transfer of power. We're going to support the 2024 result. And I think that result is going to be that Donald Trump wins not just Michigan, but the whole presidency.
Sarah: "Here in Michigan, we have thousands of community members who have loved ones, family members in the Middle East. If you were elected, what would you do to put an end to the violence that we're seeing in the Middle East?"
JD Vance: Yeah, well, I think, first of all, Americans, you know, we've got to stop being the policemen of the world. Some of these countries are going to defend their own security. And I think that when we have an ally like Israel who's defending its security, you know, we should let the Israelis determine how they best want to defend their security, not try to control it and micromanage it as the Kamala Harris - Joe Biden administration have done. Unfortunately, it's a very dangerous region of the world. And of course, the most —the thing I worry most about is that the more the conflicts escalate, the more you've got troops in Jordan and Syria and other parts of that region of the world who are in harm's way. What President Trump did during his first term in office is say, look, you know, obviously people are going to have their own conflicts, but you're not allowed to attack American citizens. And if you attack American citizens, we're going to punch back and we're going to punch hard. What that does is it makes people afraid that if they kidnap or take hostage or even kill an American citizen, there are going to be consequences for it. Unfortunately, I think a lot of very bad guys all over the world feel like they can take an American citizen hostage with no consequences. And you see the results in Israel. I mean, there are still right now American citizens who have been taken hostage, who haven't been returned. We have got to get those folks back. We've got to reestablish that basic fear that bad guys have for American leadership. They don't have it because of Kamala Harris. I think they will have it when Donald Trump is president again.
Sarah: "What would you like to say to childless cat ladies here in Michigan?"
JD Vance: Well, first of all, look, I made a dumb comment years ago. It was a sarcastic remark. But what I said is we need to be more pro-family as a country. And I think that's the substance behind the sarcastic remark that hasn't gotten enough play. It's way too hard to raise children in this country. It's hard to take your kids into a restaurant. It's hard to, you know, afford a house, to raise a family. And of course, the cost of groceries is up 25%. And that really affects people with young children because young children eat a lot. What I said and what I —what I really believe is that we have to become more pro-family as a country. Donald Trump and I want to support policies that make it easier for you to choose the family that you want to have, to raise that family in comfort and a middle-class life, and to afford the basic necessities from food to medicine to housing that we know all children need in order to thrive. That's what we're focused on. And I'd ask people, don't take a comment, a boneheaded comment — I made four years ago in sarcasm and focus on that, focus on the pro-family agenda that Donald Trump and I have. And we want to make life more affordable for a whole host of American citizens.
Sarah: "What is one tangible act that you can take if elected to turn the economy around for Michigan voters?"
JD Vance: I think the most important thing, because it will lower prices, it will make it easier to manufacture in the United States of America. And also, we know it gets pretty cold in Michigan in the winter. It'll drive down electricity and utility bills — is to really open up American energy. We've got great energy resources in Pennsylvania. We've got some in Michigan. We've got some all over the country. And unfortunately, Kamala Harris's policies have led us to scale back our own energy development right here in the United States of America. If you develop those resources, you're going to drive down prices. You're going to create a lot of good jobs. You're going to make it easier to manufacture, which, of course, is going to benefit our great Michigan autoworkers. Energy is really the most important thing that we can do. And I think it's maybe the biggest difference between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. Donald Trump is a very pro-American energy. Kamala Harris is not.