JD Vance to campaign at Milwaukee police union Friday

Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance will return to Wisconsin Friday to deliver remarks at the Milwaukee Police Association.

The trip will be Vance's second to the battleground state this month. The Ohio senator stopped in Eau Claire last week to speak to reporters at an equipment manufacturer as Vice President Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, held a rally nearby at the same time.

Vance's campaign on Tuesday slammed Harris over the country's southern border and argued Harris and "dangerously liberal Democrats have done absolutely nothing" to address crime in places like Milwaukee.

"President Donald Trump and JD Vance know Wisconsinites can’t take another four years of weak leadership and they are devastated to see Americans suffer because of the Democrats’ soft on crime agenda," the campaign said in a statement announcing the visit.

More: Just how ‘horrible’ is Milwaukee’s crime? A look at the midyear stats.

Vance is expected to deliver remarks about 11 a.m. Central Time at Milwaukee's police union.

The visit comes as Democratic energy has swelled both across the country and in Wisconsin after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race last month and Harris became the party's new nominee.

A Marquette University Law School Poll released as both Harris and Vance campaign in Eau Claire last week showed Harris and former President Donald Trump in a dead-heat race. But it also saw Democrats narrow the enthusiasm gap with Republicans.

Registered voters who considered themselves very enthusiastic to vote sided with Trump over Harris 52% to 47%, a marked improvement from the poll's last survey in June, when Biden was the Democratic nominee and those who considered themselves very enthusiastic to vote sided with Trump over Biden 61% to 39%.

More than 12,000 people attended the Harris-Walz rally in Eau Claire last week — the largest crowd a campaign has drawn in the state this cycle.

The Harris campaign on Tuesday noted violent crime has been on a decline under the Biden-Harris administration.

"JD Vance is running alongside a convicted felon who saw violent crime skyrocket when he was president and tried to overturn an election on January 6th," said Brianna Johnson, the Harris campaign's Wisconsin communications director. "Vice President Harris is the only candidate who will keep our communities safe and protect our democracy."

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: JD Vance to campaign at Milwaukee police union Friday