JD Vance visited Minnesota, the home state of his VP rival Monday for a fundraiser where he criticized Gov. Tim Walz for his response to the violence that followed the murder of George Floyd in 2020.

Vance stood outside the shell of a Minneapolis police station that was torched during the rioting, joined by several retired police officers and GOP candidate Joe Teirab, a former federal prosecutor who’s trying to unseat Democratic Rep. Angie Craig in the state’s most competitive congressional race.

“We have to remember that what this represents is the complete abandonment of basic public safety by the leadership of the state, including Gov. Tim Walz,” Vance said.

As president, Donald Trump praised Walz’s handling of the crisis in a conference call shortly after calm returned to the city, but Vance suggested that Trump was just being “polite.”

No GOP presidential candidate has carried Minnesota since President Richard Nixon in 1972, and no Minnesota Republican has won a statewide race since 2006.

While Vance said he wasn’t sure if Trump would return before Election Day, he said he thinks they “actually have a chance in Minnesota” but also acknowledged that they’re “obviously rowing uphill.”

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