HARRISONBURG, Virginia — Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, the 2016 GOP vice presidential nominee, headed here in the backyard of his counterpart Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) to rub in his victory over the Democratic vice presidential nominee in Tuesday night’s debate a couple hours southeast of here.
In the heart of one of Virginia’s most conservative areas here in the Shenandoah Valley, Pence rallied several hundred supporters at the Rockingham County fairgrounds.
“Had a little debate last night,” Pence said. “It was at Longwood University and I was humbled and honored to be there. Donald Trump called me late last night from Nevada to congratulate me on the debate. That truly meant the world to me, it really did. Some people think I won. But I’ll leave that to others. You know, what I can tell you, from where I sat, Donald Trump won the debate. Donald Trump’s vision to Make America Great Again won the debate. And when we take that vision to every corner of Virginia and every corner of this great nation, this movement, that man and that vision are going to win all the way to the White House.”
Pence, just like he did on Tuesday before the debate, mocked the mainstream media for continuing trying and failing to wipe out Trump.
“They all keep telling each other the usual methods are going to work,” Pence said. “‘Now we got him. Now we found this thing he said. Now we found this thing he Tweeted.’ They think they finally done him in, but then you turn on the television the next morning and Donald Trump is still standing stronger than ever before in front of the American people. It’s funny to watch.”
After praising America’s police officers and military men and women, Pence framed this election as a chance to get real change in Washington, D.C.
“It really is remarkable when you think about the choice this election,” Pence said. “At the very moment America is crying out for something new and different, the other party has answered with a stale agenda in the most predictable of ways. It really is pretty amazing. At a time when people in both political parties are restless for change—we know we could have government as good as our people again—the other party has nominated someone who literally personifies the failed establishment in Washington, D.C.”
Pence’s event here kicks off a multi-battleground-state several-day-long post Vice Presidential debate bus tour, where he is starting here in the state of Virginia then ending up in Pennsylvania on Wednesday evening. From there, he will head to Ohio—and depending on Hurricane Matthew’s trajectory may travel to North Carolina.
“The truth of the matter is this campaign has been amazing to be a part of,” Pence continued in his remarks, framing the election as a referendum on major issues rather than petty personal squabbles—the way Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Rodham Clinton and her running mate Kaine frame it with the help from the legacy and establishment media.
“It’s like two on one out there every day, with the media doing half of Hillary Clinton’s work for her,” Pence said. “Sometimes when I get up in the morning, I got to turn on the television with a stick—you never know what’s going to be here. The amazing thing is even though the media is out there doing half the work for her—it’s two on one—Donald Trump is still winning hearts and minds every day and he’s going to win all the way to the White House. You know, the media has been so busy parsing every word Donald Trump Tweeted in the last 30 minutes it seems like they haven’t had time to talk about what the Clintons have been up to for the last 30 years. So let me see if I can help. I mean the truth is this campaign is about very serious issues. I mean, you heard that last night: It’s really incredible. With Sen. Tim Kaine sitting across that table from me, and after an avalanche of insults, he referred to us as running an insult driven campaign. I mean, Hillary Clinton called half of the people who believe we can Make America Great Again a ‘basket of deplorables.’ But despite their avalanche of insults, this election really is about ideas. It’s about issues that matter to the people of Virginia and the people of this country. It’s about security. It’s about prosperity. It’s about the Supreme Court of the United States and about preserving the highest standards of integrity in the highest office in the land. And every single one of those issues, Donald Trump is the right choice for the United States of America in 2016.”
Pence proceeded to call for renegotiation of America’s trade deals to better represent American workers, called out Clinton for the Iran nuclear deal and the Benghazi terrorist attack, laid out his and Trump’s economic, energy, and national security policy platforms.
“When Donald Trump becomes negotiator-in-chief—you with me on that? We’re talking trade now,” Pence said. “Negotiator-in-chief isn’t in the Constitution—yet. But when Donald Trump becomes negotiator-in-chief, I promise you we are going to have a president who renegotiates NAFTA so that it works for the American worker. We’re going to get out of TPP and we’re going to hold our trading partners accountable to the promises that they made to the American people. When it comes to trade, we’re going to put the American worker first.”
Pence also gave an exclusive interview to Breitbart News aboard his Trump-Pence campaign bus, an interview that is forthcoming.