Ohio Congressman calls on JD Vance to resign as Senator

The Democratic senator for Ohio Casey Weinstein has called for Republican vice-presidential candidate JD Vance to resign as fellow Ohio senator after he spread unfounded rumors about illegal Haitian immigrants eating pets.

Weinstein reposted a clip of Vance's recent interview with CNN in which he discussed the story on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday.

Responding to Dana Bash's question about whether Vance would confirm that the rumor had "no basis with evidence," he insisted that constituents had told him it was true. Vance also said that he had to "create stories" to highlight the issues in Springfield, Ohio. Vance then clarified he meant he had created the media focus, not fabricated the claims.

In his re-post of the clip, Weinstein wrote, "In the wake of JD Vance admitting he 'created' the pet-eating story, and as a result of the very real threats the communities and people he has targeted are now under... I am calling on him to RESIGN as our Senator."

Weinstein's post received over 2 million views and thousands of comments. Some agreed, saying Vance should be "held accountable" for his role in spreading the rumor, which has launched the city into the political spotlight.

His opinion was echoed by Ohio representative Michele Grim, who wrote on X, "Here's our state's junior Senator bragging about terrorizing Ohioans with malicious lies in order to change the subject in the national election he's losing."

However, others defended Vance, saying Weinstein misrepresented his comments, and pointing out that the rumor was started by a post on Facebook, not by Vance.

Newsweek reached out to Vance's campaign, and to Weinstein via his contact form on the Ohio House of Representatives website, outside of business hours and will update the story if a comment is obtained.

The rumors about Haitian migrants stealing and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, began to circulate on social media and were amplified by Vance in a September 9 post on X.

The following day, Donald Trump reiterated the claim on the debate stage and was corrected by ABC debate moderator David Muir, who said that Springfield's city manager claimed there have been "no credible reports of specific claims of pets being harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community," as Newsweek previously reported.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, a Republican, also denounced the rumors and said that he has "absolutely not" seen any evidence to support them. He also highlighted that the Haitian community in Springfield is made up of legal immigrants. "They came to Springfield to work," he said.

Weinstein, an Air Force veteran and businessman, was elected to represent the 34th district of Ohio in 2018 and once more in 2020, and previously ran for office in 2016.

Do you have a story we should be covering? Do you have any questions about this article? Contact LiveNews@newsweek.com.