DALLAS | President Trump headlined the second and final night of the Republican’s midterm convention, but Vice President J.D. Vance debuted as the party’s political future.
Mr. Vance, 42, delivered the penultimate speech at a convention dedicated to getting Republicans elected in the 2026 midterms.
“Are we ready to do what we need to do in November?” Mr. Vance asked the crowd at American Airlines Center.
Behind the scenes, Republican Party officials were looking a couple of years ahead to 2028, when Mr. Vance is expected by many in the party to take the mantle from Mr. Trump and, Republicans hope, become the 48th president.
The vice president on Thursday made the rounds in Dallas, meeting with party leaders from Ohio, Pennsylvania and other swing states and later holding a fundraiser that brought in millions of dollars to fuel midterm races.
“He was, of course, enthusiastically received by those in attendance,” said one person who was at the breakfast event with Mr. Vance and swing-state Republicans.
“At the outset of his remarks, several in the audience chanted ‘J.D. 48,’ to which he smiled and gave a thumbs up,” the person said.
Mr. Vance has not defined his political future, but those plugged into Ohio politics say he will try to succeed Mr. Trump.
“He’s running,” Ohio Republican National Committeeman Dave Johnson said.
Mr. Johnson has known Mr. Vance since Mr. Vance moved back to Ohio in 2017 and helped him launch his successful 2022 U.S. Senate bid by hosting campaign events at the historic inn Mr. Johnson operates in Columbiana.
The party loves Mr. Trump but will embrace Mr. Vance as his successor, Mr. Johnson said.
“He will champion Trump’s policies but with a different style and manner,” Mr. Johnson said.
The differences between the two were on display in Dallas this week.
Mr. Vance didn’t boast about himself in his prime-time address Thursday.
Instead he shared insight into his life as a father of four, including a new baby, and how it fuels his desire to steer the nation in the right direction, with safe streets, safe food, low crime and the ability to afford a home and the cost of living.
“What I want for my family, I want for your family too,” he said. “That’s my job. My job is to fight for every single person in this room, every person watching at home, as if they were my family, as if they were my own kin.”
The crowd roared with applause and laughter after Mr. Vance chided a protester who waved a Mexican flag during his speech.
“My friend, if you love Mexico so much get your a— over there, I’ll buy you the plane ticket,” Mr. Vance said, segueing into the risk of losing the midterms to Democrats.
When the crowd broke out into a round of chanting “J.D. 48,” he laughed and said, “Please, we’ve got to take care of business this November then we’ll worry about what comes next.”
Mr. Vance praised the president during the speech for closing the border, bringing jobs back to America and cutting taxes on Social Security, tips and overtime.
He dedicated a significant portion of his remarks to Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, his good friend, who was assassinated a year ago Thursday.
Kirk opposed U.S. military involvement overseas and had disagreed with the administration on attacking Iran.
The war has since dragged on and led to high gas prices and contributed to the administration’s low approval rating less than two months from the November election.
“I’m asking you to do what Charlie did. Do not throw the baby out with the bathwater. Don’t give the country over to a bunch of crazy people because you happen to disagree with us on a policy issue here or there,” Mr. Vance said.
Democrats, he said, are running far-left candidates who, if elected, will destroy the American dream
“It’s about the party of common sense beating the party of the crazies. Let’s send these lunatics packing and govern our country for the future,” he said.
Mr. Trump did not mention Mr. Vance during his speech on the first night of the convention, but he has talked up Mr. Vance as his successor to lead the Republican ticket in 2028 and has suggested that Mr. Vance choose Secretary of State Marco Rubio as his running mate.
“I don’t know how you beat them if they’re together,” Mr. Trump said during a June interview with the New York Post. “That would be a great team.”
During the closed-door breakfast with party officials Thursday morning, Mr. Vance warned about the consequences of a Democratic takeover of Congress.
The vice president urged his audience to amplify the message that the Democratic agenda was radical and that they would use committee perches to tie up the White House with endless investigations if they win the House and Senate.
Some Democrats were publicly threatening another impeachment of Mr. Trump and an investigation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth if they win control of Congress.
Mr. Vance’s warning about the Democrats, whose ranks Republicans say now include a growing faction of socialists, has been a major theme at the midterm convention.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, called the differences between the Republican and Democratic parties “a contrast between common sense and crazy” that goes beyond a few far-left outliers.
“There are many, many more, and this is no longer the Democratic Party that we once knew,” Speaker Johnson said. “They’re against everything they used to stand for.”
The convention’s second night, like the first, featured a lineup of embattled Republican midterm candidates scrapping to win in hotly contested races.
Mike Rogers, running for Senate in Michigan, used his moment on stage to bash his Democratic opponent, Abdul El-Sayed, over comments Rogers called anti-American and anti-Israel.
In March, Mr. El-Sayed appeared to justify an attack on a Michigan synagogue by referencing the relatives of the Lebanese-born attacker, who had Hezbollah-tied relatives die in an Israeli airstrike.
“He wants to apologize for America. I want to defend America. He wants to represent Palestine. I want to represent Michigan. And when the radical Islamic terrorists threaten Americans, we don’t need a senator searching for excuses. We need a senator hunting them,” said Rogers, a former FBI agent.
The second night of the convention featured tributes to the victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and to Turning Point USA co-founder Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated one year ago Thursday.
Mr. Vance appeared on Kirk’s popular podcast, now hosted by Kirk’s top lieutenant, Andrew Kolvet, to talk about Kirk, who was a close friend.
“I’m giving this big speech at the Republican midterm convention tonight, and I remember the first time I gave a speech like this. Of course, it was at the convention for the general election in 2024,” Mr. Vance said. “Charlie was down there, like looking up at me, cheering for me.”
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