Bookended in the schedule by pastors, Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance played the hits at a tightly regulated town hall Saturday afternoon in Monroeville, addressing inflation, the opioid epidemic and what he called socialism in public schools.
Hundreds of rally goers, some clad in gear with variations of the MAGA slogan, came to the Monroeville Convention Center for Lance Wallnau’s Courage Tour, a ticketed, all-day revival where Vance was a special guest.
Wallnau, a televangelist, conspiracy theorist and supporter of former President Donald Trump, has hit several other key battleground states, like Michigan and Arizona, with a line-up of preachers this election season.
About three-quarters of seats were filled by 1 p.m., when Vance was welcomed on stage by host and local pastor Jason Howard for a 45-minute questions-and-answer session.
Vance began by talking about the opioid crisis after an audience member asked what he and Trump would do to reduce its toll on America. Vance became associated with the topic after the 2016 release of his book, “Hillbilly Elegy,” where he recounted his family’s struggles with the disease.
In response, Vance blamed President Joe Biden’s weak border policy for allowing “Mexican drug cartels” to smuggle fentanyl into the U.S.
“I think what this fentanyl crisis has done is it’s deprived us of so many second chances,” Vance said. “We got to get it out of our country and make our streets safe so people can get clean and stay clean. And if they backslide, it doesn’t take their lives.”
He then advocated for accessible treatments through Christian groups, which he said the federal government has not embraced, as well as tele-health options launched during the covid-19 pandemic to minimize virus transmission.
Medicare virtual appointment flexibility is set to expire at the end of the year; Vance said he and Trump would extend it. A bipartisan House bill to do so is winding through the committee process.
Further delving into the U.S.-Mexico border, Vance framed his ticket’s tough talk as a fundamentally kind and Christian way to tackle illegal immigration.
“The compassionate thing is to control our border,” he said, discussing immigration in response to a question about how faith shapes his politics. “We should not let Kamala Harris claim the high ground of compassion when her policies have led to 320,000 missing children in America.”
Vance was referring to a report from the Homeland Security Inspector General’s Office released last month showing that federal officials have lost track of thousands of young migrants.
He also touted education options, like homeschooling, as the best antidote to perceived liberal indoctrination in public schools.
“The American education system used to be the envy of the world,” he said. “Now we got American children that can’t add five plus five, but they can tell you there are 87 genders.”
His solution: “I think we cut off the money. Stop spending your tax dollars on radical organizations that are poisoning your kids.”
He also touched on grocery inflation, which he said can be reduced in part by loosening energy laws, his support for American manufacturing and the need for attractive job opportunities that don’t require a college degree.
Vance, who was baptized into the Catholic Church in 2019, ended by asking the audience to leverage their faith connections into votes for the Trump-Vance ticket.
“If you go to a church that has, say, 300 people, probably 50 of those people are people who agree with you on politics, but they never vote,” he said. “If Christians aren’t out there voting, Christians aren’t going to have a voice in this country. And that’s the worst possible outcome.”
Energizing protestants will likely be key for Republicans in their quest to regain the White House — especially in Pennsylvania, a crucial state where general polling tends to show a slight advantage for Harris.
A nationwide survey conducted by Pew Research in August and September found 61% of protestant registered voters were at least leaning toward Trump, including 82% of white evangelicals.
Wallnau, for one, is all-in on Trump. The televangelist has compared the former president to a biblical king chosen to prevent cultural collapse. And after the 2020 election, he became a “stop the steal” conspiracy theorist, falsely claiming the vote was manipulated in Biden’s favor.
He told CBS News this month “Jan. 6 was not an insurrection. It was an election fraud intervention.”
Featured Local Businesses
Prior to the town hall, Vance’s election staff barred reporters from interviewing members of the crowd, but vendors were fair game. Most declined interviews with TribLive, but Bill Bolin, an employee of stem cell broker Level 10 Matrix, spoke in detail about his thoughts on Vance.
“At first, I thought there could have been a better vice president pick,” said Bolin, 67.
But then, Vance won over Bolin with what he called a “new style” of politics.
“It’s like Bill Clinton for Republicans,” he said.
Other people have liked Vance since he was announced as Trump’s running mate in July.
Once the town hall finished, Jeff Wilson, who lives in the Youngstown, Ohio area, said having his preferred ticket win would be a double-edged sword for his state.
“On one hand, I thought (the pick) was great,” Wilson, 61, said. “On the second hand, I’d be sad for him to leave Ohio.”
He added Vance, if he succeeds Trump, would be able to “keep things rolling the way it’s supposed to be.”
Anne O’Malley of Oakmont would agree. She’s been a fan of Vance since he was elected to the Senate in 2022 by a modest margin, and said he would make a “great president.”
Near the edge of the convention center parking lot, George Zadigian, 68, wasn’t sold on Vance — or the modern Republican Party, for that matter.
A self-styled “classic Republican,” the Alliance, Ohio resident repeatedly evoked former Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Dwight Eisenhower as models of how presidents should lead the country.
Zadigian said he’s “pro-life,” not only when it comes to abortion, but at all stages of life.
“How can Trump and Vance and MAGA Republicans say they’re pro-life when they’ve been working diligently to repeal the Affordable Care Act?” he said. “We have to build dignity. And they’re not doing that.”
Jack Troy is a TribLive reporter covering the Freeport Area and Kiski Area school districts and their communities. He also reports on Penn Hills municipal affairs. A Pittsburgh native, he joined the Trib in January 2024 after graduating from the University of Pittsburgh. He can be reached at jtroy@triblive.com.