Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine issued his strongest condemnation yet of former President Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, for their continued false claims about Haitian migrants in Springfield.
“As a supporter of former President Donald Trump and Senator J.D. Vance, I am saddened by the way they and others continue to repeat evidence-free claims and denigrate legal immigrants living in Springfield. This rhetoric harms the city and its residents, and those who have spent their lives here,” DeWine wrote in a New York Times op-ed published Friday morning.
DeWine said the rhetoric from Trump and Vance was a distraction, diminishing discussions about immigration policy that “dilutes and obscures what should be a winning argument on the border.”
Ohio Governor Mike DeWine speaks to reporters on the first day of the Republican National Convention at Fiserv Forum on July 15, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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DeWine has previously denied false allegations by Trump and Vance that Haitian migrants were eating neighborhood pets.
On ABC’s “This Week,” DeWine said the stories were baseless and “bullshit.”
“This idea that hate groups are coming, that debate has to stop. We have to focus on the future and not on eating dogs and cats. It’s just ridiculous,” he said on the show.
Earlier this week, DeWine revealed that the city of Springfield had received at least 33 separate bomb threats in recent days.
Asked for comment on the op-ed, the Trump campaign referred ABC News to a statement from vice presidential nominee spokesman J.D. Vance.
“Senator Vance is pleased that Governor DeWine is endorsing the Trump-Vance duo for president,” Vance spokesman Will Martin said. “They won’t always agree on everything. When Kamala Harris abuses our immigration system to bring thousands of illegal immigrants into this country, small Ohio towns like Springfield bear the brunt. President Trump and Senator Vance will secure our border and put an end to this chaos.”
Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, speaks at a campaign event in Raleigh, North Carolina, on September 18, 2024.
Karl B. Deblaker/AP
Vance chose to continue sharing the claim about pets after an aide was informed by a city official that it was categorically false.
Vance’s aide was told by a senior Springfield official earlier this month that allegations that Haitian migrants were eating cats and dogs were false, but the vice presidential candidate continued to spread the rumor anyway the day before the presidential debate in which Trump repeated the claim, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal and confirmed by ABC News.
On September 9, City Manager Bryan Heck told a Vance staffer that the “allegations are baseless” when asked if they were true. A city spokesperson confirmed to ABC News that the Wall Street Journal’s reporting of the call was accurate.
Still, Ohio isn’t exactly a swing state: Trump beat Biden by 8 points in 2020 and Clinton by 9 points in 2016. It’s unclear whether he and Vance’s pursuit of this narrative will move the needle electorally.
ABC News’ Soorin Kim, Hannah Demissie, Kelsey Walsh, Lalee Ibssa, Armando Garcia and Jeremy Edwards contributed to this report.
