Vice President JD Vance urged House Republicans in a closed-door Capitol Hill meeting Tuesday to spend the next 49 days before the midterm elections making a direct case to voters, according to audio of the huddle obtained by Fox News Digital.
Vance told lawmakers the stakes of keeping the majority were concrete, not abstract. “There’s people out there right now whose lives are going to get better, or their lives are going to get worse based on whether we’re in the majority or whether we’re in the minority,” he said.
“There are going to be people who are going to be poorer. Who are going to be less able to afford their prescription drugs, who are going to be less safe in the homes in their neighborhoods if the other guys get the majority,” Vance continued. “And there are people who are going to be able to walk down the street in safety if you guys keep the majority. If we keep the majority together.”
Crime Statistics Take Center Stage
Vance pointed lawmakers toward the national homicide rate, which he said has fallen to a 126-year low, and told them to translate that statistic into human terms for voters. In a country of 330 million people, he said, the drop means “thousands of people” — including mothers and fathers — are coming home to their families rather than becoming victims of violent crime.
“There are tens of thousands of children who will come home tonight and work on their homework with mom or dad, rather than a stranger, because of what we’ve been able to do in supporting law enforcement,” Vance told the group.
He framed the argument as bigger than partisanship. “This is not an abstraction, ladies and gentlemen,” he said. “This is not about what you see on CNN or Fox News. This is not whether someone with an ‘R’ or a ‘D’ next to their name wins. This is about whether the American people in this country that we love have a government that they deserve, that protects them, that fights for them, or whether they have a government that treats them as a means to end.”
A Personable Presence, Lawmakers Say
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., spoke with Fox News Digital after the meeting and praised Vance’s approach. “I think he did a great job,” Burchett said. “He’s very good. He’s very personable.”
“He’s got some kind of voodoo thing going on where he remembers everybody’s dadgum name,” Burchett said. “It kind of freaks me out a little bit. But, I mean, every time I’ve run into him — I remember one time I was waiting in line to go to the bathroom and he walked out of the bathroom. ‘Hey, Tim, what’s going on?’ I invited him to a [University of Tennessee] game.”
Campaign Advice: Ground Game and Team Play
Vance also offered practical guidance, gently ribbing political consultants for sometimes losing touch with ordinary voters. “The American people are not dumb,” he said, adding that voters understand the Trump administration inherited problems including inflation, high debt, and what he called “a country that was weaker on the national stage.” “They know that Rome wasn’t built in a day,” he said.
He told members to “pound the pavement” in their districts to reach as many voters as possible personally, and urged Republicans in safe seats without serious opposition to funnel campaign money toward colleagues in competitive races.
“So here’s the thing, this is not rocket science. You guys know this better than I do, you know your districts better than I do,” Vance said. “We know that most voters, particularly the voters who are open-minded, who are not hardcore partisans, they don’t really start paying attention to the election until right about now.”
A Story from Ohio
Vance recalled a moment from his own 2022 Senate campaign in Ohio, when the late Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., joined him on the trail. “I’ll never forget this,” Vance said. “Lindsey Graham comes out — I didn’t know Lindsey Graham at all, and you guys know how the campaign trail is in the final stretches. You wake up in a crappy hotel, you haven’t seen your wife, your kids in a few days, and it’s a lot more fun when you have some company out there.”
“You’re telling jokes, you’re enjoying it. That energy — people pick up on it. So, get out there and campaign with your friends,” he told the lawmakers, recalling that Graham’s stories left him “aching with laughter,” half of which he said he couldn’t repeat.
