Hours before Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, her newly named running mate, were set to take the stage in Philadelphia, Ohio Sen. JD Vance held an event of his own in the City of Brotherly Love where he slammed the nascent Democratic ticket as the wrong choice for America.

Vance blasted Harris as a “disaster as vice president,” seeking to blame her for both wars in Ukraine and Gaza and “chaos in the world financial markets” — though the stock market rallied back Tuesday after suffering its worst day in two years on Monday — and told supporters that “we have got to kick her out of the United States government” rather than “give her a promotion.”

The Ohio lawmaker took questions from reporters after introducing two speakers who sought to tie addiction and crime to the Biden administration’s immigration policies — one woman who lost her daughter to an accidental overdose, another who said her brother “battles with addiction” and blamed Democrats for exacerbating the fentanyl crisis and crime in Philadelphia. (A report from the Center for American Progress from June found that Philadelphia is seeing the largest decline in gun violence this year among all major American cities.)

U.S. government data undercuts the claim that people seeking asylum and other border crossers are responsible for drug trafficking. At a hearing last year, James Mandryck, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection deputy assistant commissioner, said 73% of fentanyl seizures at the border since the previous October were smuggling attempts carried out by U.S. citizens, with the rest being done by Mexican citizens.

He also sought to contrast his willingness to speak to members of the media to that of Harris, a line of attack from Republicans since she began seeking the Democratic presidential nomination after President Joe Biden stepped aside.

“For 16 days and counting, the American media has been unable to ask her a question,” Vance said. “Now, agree or disagree with me and [former] President [Donald] Trump, nobody would dispute that. We will go anywhere, and we will talk to anyone, and we will answer any question.”

Vance called Walz’s record as governor “a joke” and called him “one of the most far-left radicals in the entire United States government at any level.” He also expressed concern that Democrats might “pull a little switcheroo on us” when it comes to the Minnesota governor being on the ticket, echoing comments Trump has previously made about Harris when he waffled on debating her last month.

“I think that a lot of us are asking ourselves, well, it’s not going to be official until the Democrats actually nominate him, I guess, at their convention next week,” the Ohio lawmaker said, making similar comments later in his question-and-answer session when asked if he’d be willing to debate Walz.

“I absolutely want to debate Tim Walz, but I want to debate him … after he’s actually officially the nominee,” Vance said, noting that he called the Minnesota governor to congratulate him earlier in the day. The Ohio senator recounted to reporters earlier Tuesday that he left a voicemail where he said, “‘Look, congratulations. Look forward to a verbose conversation. And enjoy the ride.’”

Vance also sought to paint Walz as a “San Francisco-style liberal” and sought to blame him for the rioting that took place in Minneapolis during the 2020 racial injustice protests after the murder of George Floyd by police officers in 2020.

“Look, would it shock me if Democrats pulled another switcheroo?” Vance asked. “No, it wouldn’t. So look, we’re going to wait until they actually nominate Kamala Harris and Tim Walz before we do any debates. And then, of course, we want to have a robust debate, again, because we believe the American people have the right to have their political leaders try to persuade them.”

He went on to accuse Harris of running a “basement campaign,” a reference to criticisms of Biden’s successful 2020 presidential campaign during the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic, before accusing her of being “afraid” of sitting for an interview.

“If she’s too afraid of the American media, how is she going to deal with [Russian President] Vladimir Putin and [Chinese President] Xi Jinping and a bunch of world leaders all over the globe?” Vance asked.

He also accused Democrats of forcing Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a running mate finalist, of having to “run away from his Jewish heritage” (Shapiro, who quickly praised Walz, is set to speak at the Democrats’ event later Tuesday) before lobbing a litany of attacks on both Harris and Walz on a range of issues, from immigration to clean energy, manufacturing jobs and transgender rights.

When asked for similarities between himself and Walz, Vance replied: “We’re white guys from the Midwest. I guess there are similarities there.”

Vance is taking part in a blitz of battleground states that largely mirrors the multi-state tour that Harris and Walz are embarking on, also visiting Michigan and Wisconsin on the same days as the Democratic duo. The vice president is also set to Arizona and Nevada later this week. (Harris has postponed trips to North and South Carolina due to the impact of severe weather from Tropical Storm Debby; it’s unclear if Vance will postpone those as well.)

Trump only has one event planned in the coming days, a point Harris and Democrats have been quick to point out, a rally in Bozeman, Montana, set for Friday evening.