US Vice President Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, recently changed his strategy and the issues he addressed in his speeches, in an attempt to save the Republicans' chances in the midterm congressional elections, by talking less about the US president and addressing more the issues that shape his political identity.
Through a Reuters review of about a dozen of his speeches since the Republican Party convention last September, he defended Republicans from the perspective of his own policies, and avoided talking about major Trump policies such as the Iran war and immigrant deportations.
Two informed sources said that this change was deliberate. Vance and his advisers saw that the issues he championed - economic nationalism, a conservative approach to foreign policy, and public security - were topics with strong political influence that he could address with confidence. The two sources added that while Trump embraced these issues within the “Make America Great Again” movement, Vance emerged as its leader.
In recent days, Vance has urged in his speeches to support Republicans as they investigate fraud in federal health care and anti-poverty programs, linking that to the White House's agenda on immigration and the cost of living, ignoring the Iran war and fuel prices, and rarely mentioning Trump's name explicitly.
The shift in J.D. Vance's rhetoric gave an early glimpse into how he will chart his own course as Republicans begin to look beyond the Trump era. Vance has not yet announced whether he will run for president in 2028, and Trump has not announced his endorsement of him or anyone else.
However, he is seen as one of the most prominent potential presidential candidates, but some Republican officials believe he will need to appeal to a significant portion of the Trump bloc while distancing himself from his boss's legacy.
As part of his strategy to enhance his political image, J.D. Vance wrote a lengthy post last Wednesday on the
He also called for ending the conflict as quickly as possible, and urged Republicans to focus on the cost of living crisis, reevaluate foreign relations, and make adjustments in the US relationship with Israel.
Trump had launched the war after continuous pressure from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and announced his support for him in the Israeli elections, and had described Americans’ concerns about the ability to afford increasing costs as a “hoax” on the part of Democrats.
However, this post does not mean that Vance is in disagreement with Trump, according to three informed sources, who also confirmed that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles had prior knowledge of Vance’s post, while it is not yet known whether Trump was aware of it, and Vance’s post on X received the support of President Trump’s eldest son, along with some conservative allies.
For his part, Trump admitted that the Iran war contributed to the defeat of the Republicans because of the resulting rise in fuel prices, but he defended the war decision, and told reporters on Wednesday: “I would not have done anything different.” Commenting on Vance’s position, Trump said that he understood Vance’s point of view regarding the election results.
Michael Ritchie, a Republican analyst and former adviser to House Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan, said the dialogue raised Vance's standing as a potential candidate to carry the conservative banner in the post-Trump era.
Ritchie said that Vance's letter forced conservatives to discuss the feasibility of war, and to define the basic principles that Republican presidential candidates should adopt in 2028. He added that it is an oversimplification to say that he is looking for ways to make himself different from Trump, but rather it is about him using his position as vice president to set the terms of the debate.
While Democrats will link Vance or any Republican candidate in 2028 to Trump, especially if Trump had a major role in choosing conservative candidates, Vance's reputation did not emerge from the midterm elections unscathed, as Republicans lost in states where Vance participated in election campaigns.
Some of the strategies he supported may have contributed to the Republicans' loss, such as the announcement that the candidate for governor of Ohio, Vivek Ramaswamy, doubted that the Democratic winner for the position, Amy Acton, had been sexually assaulted, through his publication of an election advertisement in which her mother appeared, with whom she had severed ties since childhood, after she accused her stepfather at the time of sexually assaulting her.
Other potential 2028 presidential candidates have offered their own analyzes of the defeat in the midterm elections, including Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who believes Republicans have not done enough to address the rising cost of living crisis.
For his part, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that the losing candidates focused excessively on transgender issues and ignored voters' concerns about data centers and artificial intelligence.
