{"id":4003,"date":"2026-11-08T00:04:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T19:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=4003"},"modified":"2026-11-08T00:04:00","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T19:04:00","slug":"after-midterm-rout-vance-tries-to-build-his-own-2028-brand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/?p=4003","title":{"rendered":"After midterm rout, Vance tries to build his own 2028 brand"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Late in his blitz to salvage Republicans\u2019 midterm fortunes, Vice President JD Vance shifted strategy. He talked less about President Donald Trump and more about the issues that define his own political identity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Vance argued the case \u200bfor Republicans, who lost control of Congress in Tuesday\u2019s vote, almost exclusively through the lens of his policy portfolio, according to a Reuters review of half a dozen speeches since the \u200cRepublican convention in September.<\/p>\n

He bypassed Trump\u2019s signature policies, including the Iran war and deportations as polls showed the president\u2019s sagging popularity dragging down Republican office-seekers.<\/p>\n

The change was deliberate, according to two people familiar with the strategy. Vance and his advisers saw the issues he championed \u2014 economic nationalism, foreign policy restraint, and public safety \u2014 as politically potent subjects he could address with authority. While Trump embraced them as part of his MAGA movement, Vance had emerged as their lead crusader, the people said.<\/p>\n

The shift offered an early glimpse of \u200bhow the 42-year-old vice president could chart his own course as Republicans begin looking beyond Trump.<\/p>\n

Vance hasn\u2019t said whether he will run for president in 2028, and Trump hasn\u2019t endorsed him or anyone else. \u200bBut Vance is viewed as a leading potential contender who some Republican officials say will need to inherit much of Trump\u2019s coalition while separating himself from his boss\u2019s \u2060baggage.<\/p>\n

Vance took a more public step on Wednesday toward reinforcing his own political brand with an unusually blunt election postmortem. In a social media post, he blamed the Iran war for Republicans\u2019 midterm defeat and laid out a \u200bplatform for a Republican rebound.<\/p>\n

He called for a swift end to the conflict and urged Republicans to focus on affordability, reevaluate foreign relations and overhaul the US relationship with Israel.<\/p>\n

Trump has called Americans\u2019 affordability concerns a Democratic \u201choax.\u201d He \u200blaunched a war against Iran following sustained lobbying from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump went on to endorse Netanyahu in the Israeli election.<\/p>\n

VANCE MAKES UNEASE AT THE WAR PUBLIC<\/strong><\/p>\n

The post for the first time put Vance openly on the side of ending the war.<\/p>\n

Three people familiar with the White House and Vance\u2019s communications told Reuters that the vice president was not breaking with Trump and said White House chief of staff Susie Wiles knew in advance about Vance\u2019s post.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Trump reshuffled senior White House leadership, replacing \u200bWiles with Stephen Miller in a move that suggests the White House plans to double down on some of Trump\u2019s more hardline policies.<\/p>\n

Trump has acknowledged the Iran war played a role in the Republican rout because of the \u200bresulting high gas prices but has continued to defend it. \u201cI would have done nothing different,\u201d he told reporters on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Reuters could not determine whether Trump was aware of the post in advance.<\/p>\n

Donald Trump Jr., the president\u2019s eldest son, endorsed Vance\u2019s remarks \u200con social media, \u2060along with some conservative allies.<\/p>\n

The dialogue further elevated Vance as a potential post-Trump conservative standard-bearer, said Michael Ricci, a Republican strategist and former adviser to House Speakers John Boehner and Paul Ryan.<\/p>\n

USING THE MEGAPHONE OF THE VICE PRESIDENCY<\/strong><\/p>\n

He said Vance\u2019s message forced conservatives to debate the merits of the war, and more broadly, what core tenets Republican presidential candidates should embrace in 2028.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s simplistic to say this about him looking for ways to differentiate himself from Trump,\u201d Ricci said. \u201cThis is about him using his megaphone of the vice presidency to set the terms of debate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Representatives for Vance declined to comment. White House representatives referred Reuters to Trump\u2019s comments on Wednesday, when he told reporters he understood \u200bVance\u2019s perspective on the election results.<\/p>\n

Democrats are poised to \u200btie Vance \u2013 or any Republican nominee \u2013 to Trump \u2060in 2028, especially if Trump plays a large role in vetting conservative hopefuls.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a real challenge of how you position yourself to be viable in a general election while winning a primary that still requires you to bow down and kiss the ring,\u201d said Igor Volsky, a Democratic strategist.<\/p>\n

Vance\u2019s brand did not emerge from the midterms unscathed. \u200bRepublicans lost in states where he campaigned. Some of the strategies he endorsed \u2013 including an ad by Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy that cast doubt on the \u200bsexual abuse suffered by the \u2060victorious Democratic candidate, Amy Acton \u2013 may have swung races away from Republicans.<\/p>\n

Other possible 2028 presidential contenders have offered their diagnoses of the midterm defeat. US Senator Ted Cruz of Texas said Republicans hadn\u2019t done enough on affordability. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said losing candidates had focused too heavily on transgender issues and neglected voter concerns about data centres and artificial intelligence. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has stayed silent.<\/p>\n

Vance\u2019s effort to shape the debate was visible during the closing days of \u2060the campaign.<\/p>\n

In stump \u200bspeeches, he told voters to support Republicans because they would investigate fraud in federal health care and antipoverty programs, tying that to the \u200bWhite House\u2019s immigration agenda and cost of living. He almost entirely ignored the Iran war and gas prices, and seldom mentioned Trump by name.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want my kids to raise a family in a country that is vibrant and thriving and free and prosperous. I want the \u200bsimple things,\u201d Vance told one of his final rallies in North Carolina. \u201cAnd because I want that for me, I want it for you too.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Late in his blitz to salvage Republicans\u2019 midterm fortunes, Vice President JD Vance shifted strategy. He talked less about President Donald Trump and more about the issues that define his own political identity. Vance argued the case \u200bfor Republicans, who lost control of Congress in Tuesday\u2019s vote, almost exclusively through the lens of his policy portfolio, according to a Reuters review of half a dozen speeches since the \u200cRepublican convention in September. He bypassed Trump\u2019s signature policies, including the Iran war and deportations as polls showed the president\u2019s sagging popularity…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4003","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-english"],"gutentor_comment":0,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4003","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4003"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4003\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4003"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4003"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ipp-news.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4003"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}