LAFAYETTE HILL — One day after former President Donald Trump drew a crowd of loyal supporters to the Greater Philadelphia Expo Center in Oaks, his running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, visited Montgomery County Tuesday to participate in a MomVote Town Hall.
Hosted by the conservative-leaning organization Moms for America, the forum brought eight women from across the country together at the Union League Liberty Hill in Whitemarsh Township to ask the Republican vice presidential candidate his position on a variety of issues from the economy to education.
“Pennsylvania’s like a second home for me at this point though. Thank you guys for doing this,” Vance said, as his words elicited cheers and claps from the crowd.
Vance has made a number of appearances in Philadelphia and its suburbs, including two recent appearances in Berks County.
Vance spoke for nearly 40 minutes to a crowd of more than 200 people, with the organization selling 270 tickets for the event, according to Moms for America Vice President Debbie Kraulidis. Along with Pennsylvania, women who were selected to participate came from California, Florida, North Carolina, and Texas.
“Moms are concerned about the future of America. Moms are trying to figure out what to do with their vote. We know their vote matters and so we wanted to put a town hall together,” Kraulidis told MediaNews Group, noting their membership’s concerns center on parental rights, education and the economy.
Founded in 2004 in Dayton, Ohio, Moms for America has grown from 26 members to 500,000 people affiliated in 50 states, according to pounder, president and CEO Kimberly Fletcher, aiming to “empower moms, promote liberty and raise patriots.”
“Let’s vote for our values so our voice is heard,” Fletcher said.
“We came to Pennsylvania really because it’s where it all began. It’s the birthplace of America and it is a battleground,” Kraulidis said.
“I think it’s extremely crucial,” said Hatboro resident Kim Kennedy. “I talk to a fair amount of people and there are a lot of undecideds. I’ve never seen an election quite like this in my lifetime … you see Trump signs in areas you never thought in a million years you’d see them.”
Many of the evening’s attendees were avid supporters of the Trump-Vance campaign and were hoping to catch a glimpse of the candidate ahead of the election.
“I love his policies. I love the things he says. Down-to-earth guy. I just like him,” said Phoenixville resident Lori Wallace.
Peggy Beerer, of Plymouth Township agreed, adding she would have liked to ask Vance about his experience on the campaign trail.
“What’s he finding out when he goes across the country?” Beerer said. “What type of people are coming to see him? Is it just the people that are the Republicans, the conservatives? Or are there a lot of people who are on the fence?”
Protesters were seen holding up posters just outside the entrance to the country club in Lafayette Hill. Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was also invited to participate in the Tuesday night town hall, according to Kraulidis, who said the group did not receive a response.
Two-part town hall
In brief remarks, Fletcher and Kraulidis explained the night would be divided into two parts. First, the eight panelists took the stage to share their personal stories about topics important to the Moms for America agenda.
The conversation with Vance followed, as each participant addressed him directly on subjects related to immigration, natural disasters, education, and health care. Abortion was not discussed during the town hall.
Fletcher and Kraulidis inquired about Vance’s experience campaigning for the last three months. Vance spoke of his family, including his wife Usha, who previously worked as a corporate litigator. Vance told the crowd she resigned once Vance was chosen as Trump’s running mate. Vance shared how his wife and children accompany him to campaign appearances.
“It’s a really cool thing to see the country from the perspective of a 7-year-old, a 4-year-old and a 2-year-old, and it’s been a very, very nice thing. It’s been a great family adventure for all of us,” he said.
The moderators also asked about Vance’s reversal in his comments about Trump. Vance’s previous criticisms of the former president have come to light in recent months, calling Trump “reprehensible” and an “idiot,” according to multiple media reports.
“Look, basically, he did a hell of a job, and it’s important to say I was wrong,” Vance said.
Education key talking point
One of the MomVote Town Hall panelists was Angelina Banks, a Montgomery County Republican who challenged state Rep. Napoleon Nelson, D-154th in the 2022 general election and lost by more than 20,000 votes to the incumbent legislator, according to figures from Montgomery County’s election summary report.
The mother-of-four shared her disdain for “opposing ideologies and values,” noting critical race theory, diversity and equity inclusion and social and emotional learning programming in schools.
“There were so-called activists from outside of our township that were given access to our students to brainwash them into creating victimhood profiles and oppression indexes,” Banks said, adding “don’t get me started on the books in the libraries, books in the classrooms, the various bathroom policies, and all of the other things we’ve heard a little bit about tonight.”
Although similar allegations have come up at Montgomery and Bucks county schools, there has been no evidence of “activists” from outside local districts involved with students. Books and bathroom policies have been points of contention at school board meetings in the area in the past two years.
Categorizing the programming as “radical,” Vance said “I think the first thing that we have to do is defund CRT and all of the radical curriculum that’s going into our schools.”
Tarin Swain, of California, also brought up education-related concerns, alleging her daughter was “social[ly] transitioned.” She spoke of a lawsuit against the Conejo Valley Unified School District in California.
“The district is being sued for providing minors with inappropriate gender affirming surveys and curriculum without the necessary parental notification,” Swain said of the lawsuit, which MediaNews Group was not able to verify. “With [former] President Trump recently mentioning abolishing the Department of Education, what specific actions will your administration take to uphold my 14th amendment to direct the upbringing, care and education of my children?”
Vance replied, emphasizing plans to “fight for you and fight for your rights as parents. We want parents making these decisions, not anybody else.”
Project 2025
Project 2025, the initiative also known as the 2025 Presidential Transition Project, lays out a conservative blueprint on government agencies and executive powers, including disassembling the federal education department.
Vance added onto his position to “make sure our tax dollars go toward educating our children and not to indoctrinating them.”
“I think we have to ask ourselves who’s getting rich from what we’re pushing down the throats of parents and children and the answer is there’s a billion dollar industry in cross sex hormones, in gender transition, and I think we have to go the heart of the money and stop telling these pharmaceutical companies they can make money by experimenting off of our children. It has to stop,” Vance said.
The economy was also a topic of conversation, with a question asked about rising costs.
“It’s shocking how much more expensive some of these things are,” Vance said, rattling off increasingly costly food items such as eggs and steak. “We’ve got to get back to basic common sense here.”
An OB-GYN nurse from Pennsylvania spoke to Vance about her hospital seeing higher volumes of patients she claimed were “illegal immigrants,” and wanted to know what the administration would do if elected.
Vance first took a moment to share his thoughts on hospital workers impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and the polarizing topic of vaccinations.
“Maybe our nurses would be less overwhelmed if we didn’t have a federal government that was firing people for not taking the COVID shot,” he said as the crowd roared with applause. “Whatever your views, I think it is smart to let individual nurses and moms and dads make these decisions and not try to force a one-size-fits-all approach from the federal government.
“If you’ve got 25 million, 20 million, whatever the number is, of illegal aliens in your country — we’re a compassionate people,” Vance said. “We’re not going to let people just expire on the streets nor should we. The compassionate thing for our own citizens, but I also believe for illegal aliens too, is to stop the open border and stop people from coming into this country in the first place.”
Donica Hudson, of North Carolina, shared her experiences following the destruction brought last month by Hurricane Helene. The storm ravaged much of the Southeast, with flooding devastating areas in states such as Florida, Georgia and North Carolina.
She accused the Federal Emergency Management Agency of not doing enough to help.
“FEMA was nowhere to be found the first week and has done almost nothing,” she said. “So my question is what will the Trump/Vance administration do to restructure FEMA and rebuild western North Carolina?”
“I’m sorry that it happened, and I’m sorry most importantly that your government didn’t do its job in response to it,” Vance said.
Hudson alleged “FEMA is using our taxpayer money to bring people here illegally and not to save citizens and it is like a horror movie for those of us living it.”
National news organizations have reported that FEMA money has been used for immigrants, but there is no link between that and the money used for storm damage. Trump has previously made false statements related to this. The agency insisted “no money is being diverted from disaster response needs,” according to FEMA’s website.
FEMA designated more than $344 million in response to the natural disaster to 375,000 households as of Oct. 9, according to the organization’s website, and $11.7 million to aid immigrants in July 2023, according to the Center for Migration Studies.
Fletcher also said that Moms for America was sending aid to hurricane victims.
“And I hate to say it, but I think there would have been less loss of life if the government had responded more quickly,” Vance said. “What do we need to do to restructure FEMA? I actually think this one is pretty straightforward: You’ve just got to fire the present leadership and tell FEMA to focus on American citizens…”
‘Moms are in a very unique situation’
Vance rounded out his comments by noting some polling indicating Trump doing better with men while Harris had better inroads with women.
But, he said that “moms are in a very unique situation,” calling moms “the best ambassadors.” He urged attendees to increase their involvement and engagement in the process by donating, volunteering with local political parties and voting.
“We’re not going to win this election unless everybody gets out there and votes and makes their voice heard,” Vance said.
Kraulidis added that the issues need to take the lead over political parties in this election season.
“Sen. Vance is a Republican vice presidential nominee, but this is about the issues at hand,” Kraulidis said. “This is about the issues at hand, this isn’t about a party. Everybody can decide what party they’re going to vote for, but some things are just nonpartisan.”
