MINNEAPOLIS — Following a visit by Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance to the Third Precinct, Minneapolis' mayor is responding, calling the stop a "cruel way of campaigning."
JD Vance was in Minneapolis Monday for a fundraising event, but first made a stop at the shuttered police precinct on East Lake Street.
"During these riots, these guys were given up for dead. Their police chief told them to stand down, hoping that it would save their lives," Vance told the traveling press pool while motioning to a group of retired MPD officers standing behind him.
Vance claimed Minneapolis used to have a great quality of life, but has become "overrun with crime, increased rates of violent crime, and so to the point that a lot of people feel like it's easier to move out of Minneapolis than to build a life here."
The Associated Press reports Minneapolis was among the largest U.S. metros that had population gains in 2022 after experiencing losses in 2021.
On Tuesday, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey told reporters "it's time for our city to move forward" with renovating the old precinct.
"The rest of our city, contrary to what JD Vance is saying, is succeeding," he said. "We need to make sure that old Third Precinct building succeeds along with it."
Frey criticized the Republican presidential ticket, calling it is "not a serious campaign." He also called it a "cruel way of campaigning."
"If you want to be serious about the state of our city, look at the data, look at where our city is going, look at the tremendous results that we've been getting from being rated as the happiest city in the entire country to the best park system in the entire country," Frey said.
He said the city needs to make it so the Third Precinct is no longer a "prop." He is hoping to turn the building into a democracy center and community space, which are ideas that came out of a community survey.