Election 2024 updates: Harris interviewing top VP contenders Sunday, source says

Former President Donald Trump's running mate, JD Vance, defended his comments at the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) annual convention in Chicago Wednesday.

Ahead of his rally in Phoenix, Arizona, Vance told reporters he believes the media is "overreacting" to Trump's remarks at NABJ, where he questioned his opponent Vice President Kamala Harris' racial identity.

"I didn't know she was Black until a number of years ago when she happened to turn Black and now, she wants to be known as Black. So, I don't know, is she Indian or is she Black?" Trump said at the convention.

Vance told reporters Wednesday he found Trump's comments "hysterical" adding that he believes the former president "pointed out the fundamental chameleon-like nature of Kamala Harris."

"She is not who she pretends to be," Vance said of Harris. "She's flip-flopped on every issue. She's fake, she's phony," he added.

Vice President Kamala Harris spoke out on the campaign trail on Wednesday night, reacting to former President Donald Trump's headline-making appearance at the National Association of Black Journalists earlier in the day.

While not calling out any specific comments, Harris said that Trump's appearance at the conference "was the same old show -- the divisiveness and the disrespect."

"And let me just say, the American people deserve better," Harris added as she addressed a Houston crowd at the Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority Inc.'s Boulé. "The American people deserve a leader who tells the truth; a leader who does not respond with hostility and anger when confronted with the facts; we deserve a leader who understands that our differences, do not divide us. They are an essential source of our strength."

-ABC News' Jolie Lash

Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly, a vice presidential short-lister, criticized former President Donald Trump's comments at the National Association of Black Journalists Convention about Vice President Kamala Harris Wednesday evening.

"I think those are the comments of a desperate scared old man, who over the last week especially has been having his butt kicked by an experienced prosecutor," he said.

"And his comments are not unexpected from him. We've seen this over since when, 2015 or so? So he's done this before he is not going to change it's pretty obvious to me why he is doing this," the senator added.

When asked by ABC News if he felt that Trump's comments were rooted in racism, Kelly responded, "I think it's who he is."

-ABC News' Allison Pecorin and Noah Minnie

Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, who is running for Senate, came down on former President Trump's comments about Vice President Kamala Harris' race.

"It's unacceptable and abhorrent to attack Vice President Harris or anyone’s racial identity. The American people deserve better," he said in a statement released Wednesday afternoon.

-ABC News' Rick Klein