VALDOSTA, Georgia — Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), former President Donald Trump’s running mate, told Breitbart News exclusively that the “downward revision” last month of nearly a million jobs over the past year from Vice President Kamala Harris and President Joe Biden’s administration is the “worst” since the immediate aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis.
“The worst downward revision in 15 years, and if you do your math that’s 2009 and what was 2009? Right? That was the 2008 financial crisis changing the numbers in 2009,” Vance told Breitbart News in an interview at the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office here in late August.
The Labor Department announced in late August that it was revising the jobs numbers from the spring of 2023 to the spring of 2024 downward by 818,000 jobs. That significant downgrade severely undercuts Democrats’ messaging that Biden and Harris were somehow economic saviors, and some top administration officials—like Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo in an interview at the Democratic National Convention—tried to blow off the report as insignificant.
But Vance said Democrats’ message on the economy is an outright lie.
“They are actively lying—at least they were—six weeks ago, remember their argument was ‘Joe Biden’s economy is really good which is why you should reelect Joe Biden,’” Vance told Breitbart News. “Now their argument is the economy is terrible and Kamala Harris is the change agent. Kamala Harris is not the change agent—she’s been vice president for three and a half years. It’s fascinating how quickly they can switch from the economy is great to the economy is terrible and suggests that they recognize their messaging about the economy being good wasn’t working.”
As such, though, Vance believes the public can see through the misinformation from Harris and her allies like Biden.
“When you have to downward revise by 900,000 jobs that were created last year it suggests the American people don’t believe these fake statistics,” Vance said. “The American people believe what they’re seeing and what they’re seeing is rising prices. It’s harder to get a middle-class job and send your kid to a decent school. Those things have all gone the wrong direction thanks to Kamala Harris and that’s why we’ve got to reelect Donald Trump.”
Vance’s comments on this come as Biden—fresh off his beach vacation in Delaware—is set to join Harris on the campaign trail as she tries to recalibrate her appeal to working- and middle-class voters this Labor Day.