J.D. Vance opens up about awkward donut shop trip and how he felt ‘terrible’ for bakery worker

Vice Presidential hopeful J.D. Vance is finally addressing his awkward encounter with a donut shop worker in Georgia.

He also shockingly told Vice President Kamala Harris to ‘go to hell’ during a campaign rally in Erie, Pennsylvania on Wednesday afternoon after a nasty spat over the Afghanistan withdrawal.

Meanwhile, a top election forecaster has shifted the potential result in North Carolina from ‘lean Republican to a ‘toss up’ as Kamala Harris narrows the gap with Donald Trump.

Polling averages have Trump and Harris in a dead heat with the VP set to give her first interview alongside running mate Tim Walz on Thursday night.

Follow DailyMail.com’s live blog for all the updates from the presidential race. 

J.D. Vance breaks silence on awkward Georgia donut shop stop

J.D. Vance is finally addressing his awkward encounter with a donut shop worker in Georgia.

Last week, Vance, 40, stepped into Holt’s Sweet Shop in Valdosta to order some sweets for his campaign crew ahead of a planned speech in the battleground state.

But the apparently unplanned visit quickly became uncomfortable, as the woman working behind the counter asked not to be shown on camera.

The Ohio Senator then made a show of telling the press to cut her out of their videos, before introducing himself to the employee.

‘I’m J.D. Vance, I’m running for vice president,’ he said, with a grin on his face.

The woman, in turn, simply replied, ‘OK.’

He told NBC News days later during an interview: ‘I just felt terrible for that woman.’

We walked in, and there’s 20 Secret Service agents, and there’s 15 cameras, and she clearly had not been properly warned, and she was terrified, right? I just felt awful for her.

He went on to say he loves to engage in retail politics, including stops at local food joints, but acknowledged they should be better planned out.

I like to get out there and talk to people, and we want to make sure we’re doing it, but definitely make sure that people are at least OK with being on camera, or we’re going to walk in and you’re going to have a person who has, practically, a panic attack because she’s got 15 cameras in her face.

Watch JD Vance’s awkward visit to Georgia donut store

Vice presidential candidate JD Vance made a toe-curlingly awkward appearance at a Georgia doughnut shop on Thursday.

Vance, 40, stepped into Holt’s Sweet Shop in Valdosta to order some sweets for his campaign crew ahead of a planned speech in the battleground state.

But the apparently unplanned visit quickly became uncomfortable, as the woman working behind the counter asked not to be shown on camera.

The Ohio Senator then made a show of telling the press to cut her out of their videos, before introducing himself to the employee.

‘I’m JD Vance, I’m running for vice president,’ he said, with a grin on his face.

Vice Presidential candidate JD Vance, 40, made an awkward appearance at Holt’s Sweet Shop in Valdosta, Georgia on Thursday

He introduced himself to an employee, who simply replied, ‘OK’

The woman, in turn, simply replied, ‘OK.’

Vance then proceeded to ask the woman and another employee who comes on screen some questions about the business, like how long they have worked there.

Both employees gave him just curt answers, as the woman tries to put together his order of a ‘random assortment’ of two dozen doughnuts.

‘A lot of glazed here, some sprinkles, some cinnamon rolls,’ Vance picks out.

Once he received several boxes of pastries, Vance and his entourage went on to meet deputies outside of the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office, where he was briefed on illegal drug and firearm issues in the community, WCTV reports.

From there, Vance traveled to his rally – where he hit out at Democrats on issues of illegal immigration and border security.

Vance wound up ordering a ‘random assortment’ of two dozen doughnuts

He was seen carrying the pastry boxes as he left the sweet shop on his way to a rally

He accused Vice President Kamala Harris of fueling drug issues in the country and having a laissez-faire approach to border control.

‘Soon as Kamala Harris is booted out of office, we are not open for business to illegal aliens or to the Mexican drug cartels anymore,’ Vance told the crowd.

‘That is our solemn promise to the American people, and we are very serious about it.’

Vance’s speech came as his running mate, former President Donald Trump, campaigned at the border in Arizona.

The two are crisscrossing the country making immigration issues a top priority of their campaign, as they place the blame for an influx in illegal immigration on Harris, who they have both called a ‘failed border czar’ who is lax on crime.

The Republicans are apparently hoping their message resonates with voters in the swing states of Arizona, Georgia, Nevada and North Carolina, where recent polling suggest Harris and her vice presidential nominee Tim Walz have closed in on Trump’s lead.

Vance and former President Donald Trump are crisscrossing the country making immigration issues a top priority of their campaign

But their campaign efforts come amid a fervent Democratic National Convention, where Walz hit out at the his Republican opponents Wednesday night.

He spoke about growing up in a small town in Nebraska and joked that none of the 24 members of his class went to Yale – a clear dig at his opponent, Donald Trump’s running mate J.D. Vance.

‘I’ll tell you one thing, growing up in a small town like that, you learn how to take care of each other,’ Walz said in his impassioned speech.

‘That family down the road, they may not think like you do, they may not pray like you do, they may not love like you do but they’re neighbors.’

He went on to say ‘some folks just don’t understand what it takes to be a good neighbor,’ and said that, as a teacher, his students elected student body president could teach Donald Trump ‘a hell of a lot.’

‘Leaders don’t stand all day insulting people and blaming others. Leaders do the work,’ Walz said. ‘So I don’t know about you, I’m ready to turn the page on these guys, so go ahead, say it with me, we’re not going back.’

He called their agenda ‘weird, absolutely,’ but also warned ‘it’s dangerous.’

Vice President Kamala Harris is now expected to accept the Democratic nomination for president on Thursday night.