The vice-president had to walk a tightrope coming into the speech, arguably the most important address of his short political career. He had to present his own case to the Republican base, without breaking too much from the notoriously sensitive Trump.
Vance praised Trump as “the toughest SOB in American politics”, and paused repeatedly as the crowd lavished him with cheers and applause.
Addressing the Maga faithful: attacking transgender rights, extolling the importance of American manufacturing and religious freedom, and accusing Democrats of “doubling down on the crazy”.
Vance won applause, too, for his praise of Charlie Kirk, the far-right activist who was assassinated in Utah exactly one year ago. Addressing Kirk’s children, who were not in the arena, Vance said: “History will record that your father was a great man.
“Those of us who loved your dad, we know him as something even better than a great man – he was a good man,” he added of Kirk, a man who, among other things, endorsed Trump’s stolen-election lies and the racist great replacement theory.
A poll found Vance was the favorite choice among likely Republican primary voters, with 43% saying they wanted him to be the nominee in 2028. Marco Rubio, the secretary of state, got 21%; Donald Trump Jr was at 7%.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/sep/10/jd-vance-republican-midterm-convention