Vance laments high prices, promotes drilling in Pittsburgh visit

Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance appeared Thursday afternoon in Downtown Pittsburgh, where he praised the city’s industrial history, lamented rising prices for Pennsylvanians and said drilling is the answer.

“The most important thing to do to lower prices is to unleash Pennsylvania energy,” Vance told more than 300 cheering supporters. “Drill, baby drill.”

Vance, the junior senator from Ohio and Donald Trump’s running mate, appeared shortly before 12:30 p.m. at The Pennsylvanian, a luxury apartment building that once served as Pittsburgh’s main train station.

He spoke for about 30 minutes and took questions from the media before wrapping up about 1:05 p.m.

Vance noted that grocery prices have skyrocketed and claimed housing prices in Pennsylvania have increased by 40%.

Since 2021, Pennsylvania home prices have increased by 17%, according to the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors.

Vance put some of the blame on too few houses, and he linked that to high energy prices.

“We don’t make enough houses. There’s not a high enough supply of houses in the United States of America,” Vance said. “What does that mean? Lower energy costs make it easier to build. That’s why we say drill, baby, drill. Big materials are the most important part of lowering housing costs.”

Reducing regulations and cutting energy costs would boost housing construction by lowering delivery, production and logistical costs, Vance said.

Vance said the best way to address higher prices is to increase domestic energy production in Pennsylvania, particularly natural gas, which he said would help lower costs for families.

Domestic crude oil production hit all-time records in December, as did natural gas production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Last year, Pennsylvania was near record highs in natural gas production. Each year of the Biden-Harris administration, Pennsylvania has produced more than 7 million cubic feet of natural gas, a feat never accomplished under the Trump or Obama administrations.

Vance claimed illegal immigration is cutting into the supply of homes and driving up housing costs. He said new homes need to go to American citizens and that he and Trump will ensure that.

Pennsylvania is home to a tiny percentage of illegal immigrants, estimated at just 1% of the state’s population or about 170,000 people, according to the Migration Policy Institute.

The non-citizen population in Pennsylvania has increased only by about 44,000 between 2021 to 2023, the last year census data was available. That is just a 0.3% increase compared with the state’s total population of nearly 13 million.

During the same time span, Pennsylvania added more than 69,000 housing units, according to the census.

The GOP’s future?

Taking in his surroundings, Vance praised the beauty of the former train station, built in 1900, and extolled Pittsburgh as “one of the great capitals of American craftsmanship and American manufacturing.”

The grand hall was filled during his speech by more than 300 supporters.

Among them was Sylvia Skinner, 65, of Cranberry, who sees the Republican Party’s future in Vance.

“He is very even-keeled and not over the top,” Skinner said. “I want him to be president next.”

Kathy Hecker, 75, of Pittsburgh’s West End said Vance coming into the city shows he cares about Pittsburgh.

It was her first time seeing him in person, and she praised him for what she called his intelligence and decorum.

Hecker said the Trump-Vance campaign has her support for their plans for the economy and immigration.

Harris vs. Trump

Vance blamed Trump’s rival, Vice President Kamala Harris and federal pandemic aid for causing inflation. He attacked Harris repeatedly and said her record as vice president deserves more scrutiny. He called her “shameless” for her repeated attacks on Trump.

“She is pathologically incapable of talking about America’s future without talking about a person who has not been president for three and half years,” Vance said.

Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey held a virtual news conference with the Harris campaign Thursday afternoon at which he criticized Trump’s record as president and said Trump turned his back on Pittsburgh.

Gainey said Trump’s tax cuts left middle-class Pittsburghers behind, noting the Pittsburgh region lost several thousand manufacturing jobs over the course of Trump’s presidency from 2017 to 2020. Since 2021, amid recovery from the pandemic, the region has added more than 7,000 manufacturing jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

“We remember quite well what happened under his administration,” Gainey said of Trump.

Gainey also criticized Trump’s role in encouraging the Jan. 6 riots at the U.S. Capitol.

“I always say that anger is one letter from danger, and we can’t let danger back in the White House,” the mayor said.

Exuding confidence

Vance’s Pittsburgh speech was his fourth time in the region since he was picked as Trump’s running mate.

He last visited Allegheny County on Sept. 28, when he held a town hall in Monroeville.

Trump, Harris and their running mates have visited the Pittsburgh region 16 times since July, more than any other region in the country.

Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz toured Southwestern Pennsylvania on Tuesday. Trump will rally in Westmoreland County on Saturday.

The race for Pennsylvania’s crucial 19 Electoral College votes is neck and neck, with Harris having a marginal edge.

A recent New York Times/Siena College poll shows Harris ahead of Trump, 49% to 45%, among likely voters in Pennsylvania. The margin of error was 3.8%.

Vance exuded confidence to the Pittsburgh crowd that he and Trump will prevail on Election Day in less than three weeks.

With a giant American flag as a backdrop, Vance told the crowd, “We’re going to make Donald Trump the next president of the United States, and it starts right here in Pennsylvania.”

But he implored spectators to vote and to encourage their friends and loved ones to do the same.

“Make sure to get out there and vote because that is the only way we are going to send Kamala Harris back to San Francisco where she belongs,” Vance said.