At the unusual two-day event, held in Dallas, Texas, Vice President Vance delivered a keynote address that ripped into Democrats and urged Republicans to find common ground. He called Democrats "the party of hatred” and urged Republicans to remain united for the midterms.
"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,” Vance stated.
The speech was viewed as an important one since Vance is assumed to be eyeing the Republican nomination to succeed Donald Trump.
Chants of "48!" could be heard from the crowd during the speech, but Vance told the crowd to concentrate on the midterms before looking ahead to electing the 48th U.S. president in 2028.
John Stover, president of Ohio Value Voters, told American Family News that Democrats really have “lost their way” as a political party. The party that is cozying up to socialism and communism, he said, deserved to be criticized by the vice president.
“I have not heard one Democrat running for statewide office or Congress, here in Ohio, denounce the Democrat Socialists of America party,” he told AFN.
Stover advised that Ohio Value Voters publicly endorsed Vance in the past, such as in his campaign for the U.S. Senate, and is cheering for him now.
“I certainly believe that if we see a Vance-Rubio ticket in 2028, that would be the strongest ticket that we could put forward from the Republicans,” he said.
The current polling numbers at RealClearPolitics show Vance in the lead for the '28 nomination according to polls by Morning Consult, Harvard-Harris, and Financial Times. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is second in all three.
