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Ohio Sen. JD Vance speaks one-on-one with 11Alive’s ‘The Georgia Vote’ on his campaign trail

The Republican VP nominee answered questions about abortion rights, school safety, and the economy

LINDALE, Ga. — Ohio senator and GOP Vice-Presidential nominee JD Vance spoke one-on-one with 11Alive's Sunday politics show, The Georgia Vote, just weeks before election day.

The conversation happened Friday behind the scenes at his campaign rally in Lindale, a city in northwest Georgia.

Vance answered questions on abortion access, school safety, the economy, and more. Tune into The Georgia Vote every Sunday on 11Alive at 11 a.m.

School Safety

The candidate's campaign stop came one month after the deadly shooting at Apalachee High School in Barrow County.

When asked what he'd do to increase school safety if elected, Vance advocated for increasing the presence of school resource officers in schools. 

He also called for increased enforcement of current firearm statutes.

"We want to keep firearms out of the hands of violent people," he added. "I think the most important thing that we can do there is just aggressively enforce the laws that we have on the books."

Credit: WXIA

Abortion access

Georgia's so-called 'Heartbeat Bill' is front and center once again after a Fulton County Superior Court judge struck it down earlier this week, ruling that it was unconstitutional. Georgia Attorney General Chris Carr quickly appealed the decision.

11Alive asked Vance whether he supported the Heartbeat Bill.

"I think what Donald Trump and I have said is that, as president and vice president of the nation, we're going to focus on things like lowering food prices, lowering housing prices, securing the southern border," said the senator.

"We're going to let Georgians make their decision on abortion policy in the same way we want Alabamans to make their decision, Californians to make their decision," added Vance. "What it's going to lead to is a lot of different states are going to have different views on this because different people in those states have different values. But I think that's the way that it was originally designed in our country is that the voters in these individual places would make these decisions."

When asked for his personal view on the topic, Vance said: "late-term abortions are something that I think 90% of Americans can agree is ridiculous."

"I think most Americans, they sort of want to draw the line somewhere between 12 and 20 weeks," he continued. "My attitude is I want to save as many babies as possible and it's not my job as vice president to tell Georgians how to live their lives."

11Alive's Zach Merchant spoke one-on-one with Republican vice presidential pick JD Vance.

Housing affordability

The Ohio Republican called for an increase in the American housing supply to make homes more affordable.

"The number one thing that we should do to make housing more affordable is to build more housing to begin with," he said. "That's about lowering energy costs, drilling more for oil and natural gas, making it easier for truckers to deliver building materials to the building site, just build more housing."

Transition of power

When asked about the November election and its outcome, Senator Vance committed to supporting the victor -- no matter who it is.

"We believe that we're going to win this election," he said. "We want to have a free and fair election. We're going to fight as much as we can for election integrity. I fully expect to be the winner, but we're going to support whoever ultimately wins this election."

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