Republican vice presidential candidate JD Vance took the stage outside the county courthouse in Kenosha on Aug. 20 at a campaign rally focusing on crime and featuring other Republican lawmakers and candidates.

Kenosha was the site of several days of protests against police brutality that turned violent in 2020. Illinois teen Kyle Rittenhouse shot three protesters during one of the demonstrations, killing two of them. A jury later acquitted Rittenhouse of homicide and endangerment charges after he argued he fired in self-defense. The GOP held him as a symbol of gun rights.

Vance used the setting to attack Kamala Harris as soft on crime. He said that feeling safe is an American birthright and promised that he and Trump would end sanctuary cities for people in the country illegally, deport those who are violent and push for the death penalty for drug dealers.

He also called for tougher prosecutors and pledged to end frivolous lawsuits against police.

“All this stuff is common sense,” he said.

Vance also took questions directly from reporters in the press area. Asked for his thoughts on the Democratic National Convention taking place only about 60 miles south in Chicago, Vance decried that city’s murder rate. He also dinged Harris for not taking questions from reporters like he was doing and instead always making sure a teleprompter stands between her and the public.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Eric Hovde warmed up the crowd of about 150 people waiting for Vance by bashing Kamala Harris’ public safety record.

He accused her of allowing San Francisco to slide into crime during her tenure as district attorney there. He called her stint as California attorney general a failure, accusing her of allowing the rise of sanctuary cities for undocumented immigrants, sex trafficking and drug use. She’s also been unable to control the influx of undocumented immigrants across the southern U.S. border during her time as vice president, he said.

“She has a history of failure,” Hovde said.

Harris is traveling to Milwaukee on the evening of Aug. 20 for a rally at the Fiserv Forum, where the Republican National Convention was held in July.

Harris plans to draw attention to Trump saying Aug. 19 he had “no regrets” about appointing the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade and ended the constitutional right to abortion, according to an excerpt of the speech she plans to give in Milwaukee.

“That’s because he hasn’t had to face the consequences,” Harris plans to say. “Women and families have. Well, we will make sure he does face the consequence at the ballot box this November.”