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Vice President JD Vance urged Republican leaders from key battleground states to make the 2024 midterm elections a national referendum on Democratic politics. He delivered the message Thursday during a private breakfast in Dallas with GOP activists and officials from Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Audio of the remarks, obtained by NBC News from a person present at the event, captured Vance laying out a two-part strategy. “Number one, we have to remind the American people of all the good things that we’re doing,” he said. “And number two, we have to remind the American people of how effing crazy the Democrats have become over the past couple of years.”
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Vance Calls for a Unified National Message
Vance made clear he wants Republicans to campaign on a shared national theme rather than isolated local issues. “We’ve got to nationalize this election,” he told the group. “We’ve got to talk about all the crazy things the Democrats are doing.”
The breakfast meeting took place before Vance addressed the Republicans’ midterm convention Thursday evening. Delegates greeted him with chants of “JD! JD! JD!” as he took the stage. During his remarks, he described receiving an early morning phone call from President Donald Trump, who had spoken at the convention for an hour and 45 minutes the night before.
“So I get a call at like 6 a.m.: ‘JD, are you awake?'” Vance recounted. “Yeah, I’m always awake after four hours of sleep on a Thursday or a Wednesday night or whatever the hell day it is.” He used the anecdote to highlight Trump’s energy and focus heading into the election cycle. Trump, he said, was “pounding the pavement,” discussing the elections, the speech and next steps for getting candidates across the finish line.
Sharp Criticism Aimed at Michigan Democratic Candidate
Vance also singled out Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, for particularly sharp criticism. With Michigan delegates in the room, he called El-Sayed a “nut job.” He had already traveled to Michigan the previous week to campaign against El-Sayed directly.
“I think Abdul El-Sayed may very well be the person who wins Republicans the midterms in November because he’s such a crazy person,” Vance said. The comment drew on his broader argument that Democratic candidates have moved too far from mainstream positions.
A Closing Call to Action
Vance spoke for approximately 12 minutes in total. He told the group he would not dictate how individual candidates should run their local races. “You guys are all out there and you see the local environment much better than I possibly could as vice president,” he said. His closing message was straightforward: “Just keep fighting.”
However, he ended with a pointed statement about the Democratic Party. “I want a Democratic Party that is more reasonable and more rational,” Vance said. He added that he would welcome a policy debate on taxes and spending. Instead, he argued, Democrats have focused on issues like border security in ways he described as harmful. “The only way to get the Democrats back to common sense is to kick their ass in November,” he said.
Vance is widely considered a likely contender for the 2028 presidential race, as Trump is constitutionally barred from seeking another term. His effort to nationalize midterm elections reflects a strategy to maintain Republican momentum and consolidate the party’s base heading into a critical election cycle.
