Remarks: JD Vance Holds a Midterm Political Rally in Swanton, Ohio - November 2, 2026

It's good to be home, ladies and gentlemen. How are we doing? So before we get started here, I got to give a shout out to some very dear friends. First, we have one of the very best state GOP chairs in the country, Alex T. Give it up for Alex T. So we're here, of course, to talk a lot about the gubernatorial and the Senate race, but we also have four amazing leaders running statewide, Keith Faber, Frank LaRose, Robert Sprague and Jay Edwards.

Give it up for these guys. I want to thank also our amazing Energy Secretary, Chris Wright. And a man, ladies and gentlemen, who was, I think, even more famous than I am, Donald Trump Jr. Don. Now, I hope you all had a very, very happy Halloween. I know I did. That guy did. What'd you go as? OK. Lots of candy, that's what I like to hear.

So afterwards, my, uh, my four year old daughter, we started thinking about the next big holiday, so I told Mirabel, my four year old daughter, I said, honey, all right, go to the toy closet and get me a couple toys, because we need to start thinking about the toy drive that we do every year for Christmas.

And Mirabel comes back with two of her brother's favorite toys, not the unopened toys, but two of her brother's favorite toys that I realized, ladies and gentlemen, that I got a little work to do because a little girl who's taking from her brothers, maybe she's a Democrat, she's -- she's -- I worry a little bit about that.

But here today, we're celebrating building something, creating something, creating good jobs, and creating for our future for our children right here in the state of Ohio. We're not Democrats, we're Republicans. We have, in this state, we are privileged with a whole slate of America First candidates, and before we get to the two main events, I want to remind you that we are on the eve of one of the most important, I would actually say the most important midterm election of my lifetime.

And I'm closing out this midterm campaign right where it all started for me, the great state of Ohio, because I know you're going to choose right tomorrow. You know, this state made me the man that I am today. It's where I learned to work hard. It's where I learned to love my country. It's where I learned that the United States of America is a place where even kids from tough backgrounds can dream big and see those dreams come into reality.

And, you know, I didn't have an easy life. I had -- I came from a background, what some people might call underprivileged, what people talked about as a tough childhood. But I didn't think, when I was a kid, that I was anything but privileged to grow up in the greatest country, in the greatest state, anywhere in the world.

O-Hi-o. And I think, ladies and gentlemen, after the USC game, God owes us one. [Laughter] So I know that we are going to elect Vivek Ramaswamy and Jon Husted. Now, even though I didn't always grow up with everything handed to me, I did not grow up with a silver spoon in my mouth, I find myself now that I've got four little kids of my own, thinking about what it was a blessing to grow up here, and how important it is that we teach our kids the same lessons that I was fortunate enough to grow up with when I was growing up in the state of Ohio.

So when I look out at this crowd, what I see is my own people. And as many of you know, I came from a town, Middletown, Ohio, just further down on 75, not all that different from the place that we stand today. You know, Middletown, like Toledo, is filled with Americans who work hard, who say what they mean, and who show up for each other each and every single day.

They'd give you the shirt off their back to a neighbor if they needed it, and they do anything for the country the moment they are called. And I suspect that over the years, people in Toledo felt the way that I did growing up in Middletown, Ohio. We felt like our leadership had ignored us and had left us behind.

I remember seeing factories close down. I remember driving around beautiful Middletown, Ohio and seeing a place where my best friend's dad went to work and knowing that that factory was going to close down. Or seeing a factory where a friend's mom had gone for 20 years, and realizing that those jobs had gone to Mexico or to China or to somewhere else.

And I -- and I remember driving around my hometown wondering why it was that politicians in Washington didn't look after people like my family and didn't seem to care about places like Toledo, Ohio. And if the election of 2024, if Ohio voting in record numbers for Donald J. Trump represented anything, it was that the places that we loved, we were sick of being taken advantage of, we were sick of being left behind, we wanted a future for our children right here in northwestern Ohio.

And tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow we have the opportunity to ensure that Ohio remains a bastion of opportunity, of hope and importantly, of common sense. You can vote -- you can vote for the crazies, and I know the people in this crowd won't, or you could vote for a guy like Derek Merrin, who has cut your taxes. [Audience chants "Derek"] Derek, that was an amazing reception, I'm jealous.

But more important than my jealousy is -- no, no, no. [Audience chants "JD"] You make an Ohio boy proud. But most importantly, don't chant his name or my name, get out there and vote for Derek Merrin tomorrow to be your next Congressman. Derek doesn't just talk the talk, he has walked the walk. He has taken on high drug prices, and he has protected our children from radical transgender activists.

He's walked the walk, let's fight for him tomorrow. We -- we can also vote for a guy who wants to make it so that young people can afford to buy a home in the state of Ohio, who ensures that Ohio is not just the land of opportunity of the past, but is the land of opportunity in the future, Vivek Ramaswamy for governor of the state of Ohio.

And by voting for Vivek, it's kind of, you know, you get a twofer, because not only do you make a great leader the next governor of the state of Ohio, you also prevent an unstable maniac like Amy Acton from ever having power over our lives again. You prevent Amy Acton from closing down our schools again. You prevent Amy Acton from shutting down our churches, like she did the last time that she had power.

And you send a message to national Democrats that Ohio is for common sense. Ohio's for Vivek for governor of the state. You -- you can vote to keep American elections in the hands of the American people. Now, I saw a story just in the last couple of days that there are illegal communities of illegal immigrant Somalis who are coordinating to flood the polls and drown out your vote. [Audience boos] Well -- well, I happen to believe that we want American elections to belong to American citizens.

Send a message by voting for Vivek for governor. Now, I have to tell you, though, that, um, Vivek has the same name as my six year old, OK? And last week I was driving around, I was actually campaigning for the Vivek and for some of these other great candidates. And as you all, in fact, some of you are holding up those signs, actually, I want one of these signs because I got to take it back to my six year old, that Vivek for Ohio sign, because we're driving around southwestern Ohio and my six year old was like, dad, people know that I like Ohio.

And I was like, well, why do you say that, buddy? And he said, because there are all these signs that say Vivek for Ohio. And ladies and gentlemen, my Vivek is definitely for Ohio, that for Vivek is for Ohio, too. Now, last but certainly not least, you have an opportunity to vote for a patriot who has delivered for the state of Ohio time and time again.

When we got no taxes on tips, that was because of Jon Husted. When we expanded the child tax credit, that was because of Jon Husted. When we rolled back the green new scam, that was because of Jon Husted. So if you like no taxes on tips and no taxes on Social Security and no taxes on overtime, let's reelect Jon Husted to the United States Senate.

You know, what I what I like about Jon and Derek and Vivek is, look, these are three guys who know how to think for themselves. They are independent-minded. They're not always going to agree with the administration or with any particular person, but they answer -- the thing that unites them is they know who they answer to, and they answer to the people in this hangar, they answer to the people of Ohio.

For too long -- For too long, we've had too many politicians that answer to illegal aliens. They answer to foreign corporate lobbies. They answer to the bureaucrats. They answer to the fraudsters. That is the story of Washington for too long and that is what we reject. With Jon and Vivek and Derek Merrin, they fight for you, they answer to you, let's get them elected.

Now, I have been accused, ladies and gentlemen, by the corporate media for being an attack dog. And all of you who know me know that I'm -- I'm actually I'm nice and cuddly. I'm not an attack dog. But I do like to talk about some of these crazies who are running on the other side, and that's an important part of our political process, is to remind people that, again, it's not just that Jon is a great public servant, it's that he is running against a career politician, a guy who was first elected to office 10 years before I was born, a guy who voted with Joe Biden to open the border, a guy who supported Joe Biden's effort to ship Ohio auto jobs out of the United States of America, a guy who supported the green new scam, which raises costs for every person in the state.

We have an opportunity, ladies and gentlemen, not just to elect Jon Husted, but to reject Sherrod Brown and send him packing once again. What I don't understand about Sherrod Brown is that he is a man who is desperate to represent the people of Ohio, but he lies to the people of Ohio in the process. And it makes me think, maybe he's not actually desperate to represent you, maybe he's desperate to represent Chuck Schumer.

That's what his voting record shows, ladies and gentlemen. Remember when Joe Biden opened the border, Sherrod Brown was right there with him. Remember when Joe Biden raised your taxes, Sherrod Brown was right there with him. Remember when Joe Biden shut down American refining, Sherrod Brown was right there with him.

Every single time that Sherrod Brown has had an opportunity to fight against the far left and stand up for you, he has bent the knee to Chuck Schumer, he bent the knee to Joe Biden. He bent the knee to the far left activists and, ladies and gentlemen, tomorrow you get an opportunity to send a message to Sherrod Brown, if you're going to fight for Chuck Schumer instead of me, then get the hell out of there; we're voting for Jon Husted.

The last time he was in power, he voted dozens of times for amnesty and sanctuary cities. He tried to give your Social Security and your health care to illegal immigrants. Compare that to Jon Husted, Jon Husted who helped us close the border, Jon Husted who helped us kick illegal alien criminals out of the United States of America.

Jon Husted who backed the blue and made our neighborhoods safer. Now, I've seen this Sherrod Brown TV commercial where he says, why are they talking about transgender all the time? And the answer is because it shows who your values are and it shows what your priorities are. I didn't make Sherrod Brown vote to put boys in girls' sports, he did that himself.

I did not make Sherrod Brown support giving your tax dollars to gender transition surgeries for illegal aliens. Sherrod Brown did that himself. So how dare Sherrod stand before the people of Ohio and say, how dare you judge me by my record. Well, Sherrod, we're judging you by your record because your record is atrocious and we're electing Jon Husted to the United States Senate.

You know, ladies and gentlemen, politics, we sometimes in my profession, we make it too complicated. I've been in politics for all three years, and I've learned a lot, but one of the things that I consistently am surprised by is that the far left has given itself over to some of the craziest people in America.

Now, I -- I was raised by a union steelworker, a man who voted for the Democrat Party his entire lifetime. And I wonder what my papaw would think about the Democrat Party today. Now, when he was -- when he was alive and voting, my papaw voted for Franklin Delano Roosevelt's Democrat Party. He voted for JFK's Democrat Party.

He voted, I hate to say it, for a Democrat party that no longer exists in Washington, DC. If you want -- if you want a party that fights for workers, if you want a party that supports lower taxes for working people, if you want a party that stands up for common sense values, I wish that still existed in the Democratic Party but, ladies and gentlemen, it does not.

The only game in town for low taxes, for common sense, and for patriotic American values, it's Vivek's party, it's Jon's party, it's the Republican Party, and don't forget it tomorrow. You know what -- what Vivek and I want for the state of Ohio, it's the same thing, it's a future for our children. Now, I obviously live in Washington, DC because I'm the vice president, but whenever I get a chance, I still go home to Cincinnati because I love it, because it feels like home, because it will always be my home.

Ohio will always be where my heart is and I know that's true for you. But I remember when I was a kid, even my papaw, as much as he loved this state and he loved its opportunities, my papaw and everybody else, there was this message, and sometimes it was subtle and sometimes it was more explicit, but the idea was that in order to have a future, we were told in my generation, when I was a teenager, the message we were told was, you got to go elsewhere, you got to go somewhere else.

And I don't want that for my children. How much do we love this state, ladies and gentlemen? How much -- I still, when I was home just last week and I was driving around those beautiful rolling hills of the Cincinnati area, I felt like home. I remember all the times that, you know, my little boys caught a crawdad in the Little Miami River.

I remember all the times that we felt like we belong in this place, with its -- with its orange and red trees at this time of year, with its beautiful farmland that's more fertile than any farmland anywhere in the world. Ohio is our home. And the thing about Ohio is it's not just our home, it is a place with boundless natural resources.

We have enough energy, enough natural gas, enough talent in our workforce, and enough fertile farmland to feed the world, to power the world and to build a future for our country right here in the heart of it all. So I hate this idea, I resented this idea when I was a little kid that I had to go somewhere else.

I didn't want to go somewhere else. I don't want our -- our grandparents and our parents to think that Ohio is no longer the land of opportunity. I want them to know that they can raise a family and that that family can then raise a family, because there's enough right here in Ohio to make it possible for all of us. When my papaw came to Ohio, it was all about opportunity.

It was a place where a working-class guy could support a family of five, take his kids on a nice vacation, buy a nice automobile, live in a nice house. That was the American dream, and it was more alive in Ohio than anywhere. That's why my papaw came here from the hills of Eastern Kentucky. But the only thing -- ladies and gentlemen, the only thing that will screw up that great Ohio dream is bad leadership.

You're not going to screw it up. We've got everything from the natural resources to the beautiful farmland to build it right here in the state that all of us love, but we're not going to be able to build it if Sherrod Brown gets in there and floods our country with illegal criminals. We're not going to get it if Amy Acton gets in there and destroys the tax and the business environment of this state.

We're not going to get it if we -- if we elect politicians who are more interested in handing out benefits to people based on skin color than they are about building an American dream for everybody, whether they're White or Black or rich or poor. So I -- I imagine you think many of the same things that I thought growing up. I'm sick of politicians dividing us against each other.

I'm sick of politicians who say that you're privileged if you have this skin color, but you're disadvantaged if you have that skin color. I'm sick of politicians who are trying to hand out benefits to fraudsters, instead of protecting the tax dollars of every American citizen. In other words, I'm sick of politicians like Amy Acton and Sherrod Brown, and I'm ready for Vivek Ramaswamy and Jon Husted.

Sir, let's focus on this election first. But here's the thing, ladies and gentlemen, is it's not just about the future, it's also about the message that we send. There is a desperate desire from the far left to take over the Democratic Party, and then eventually the country, not with people who love the United States and the people who live in it, but people who would divide us against one another so that they can accumulate more wealth and more power for themselves.

What will happen tomorrow is Ohio will send a message. It will send a message that that brand of politics, that brand of division, that brand of hatred is not welcome in the Buckeye State, and we send it by voting for Vivek and Jon. There is nothing, there is nothing we cannot do in the state of Ohio. There is nothing that we cannot build, there is no future too bright so long as we elect the right leadership to protect it. Ladies and gentlemen, politics is not complicated, we just need to send people who aren't corrupt.

We need to send people who have good values, and we need to send people who know that Ohio's best days are ahead of it, so long as leadership is leading it in the right direction. I love this state, ladies and gentlemen. I love the people in it. I think about 20 years ago, 25 years ago, when I went right off of 75 to a recruiting station in Fairfield, Ohio, and took a bus to join the United States Marine Corps.

Semper Fi to all the Marines. I think about the sense of possibility that I had growing up in the state of Ohio, and I want that for every single man, woman and child in the state of Ohio. I want your kids to know that if they work hard and they get a little bit lucky, there is no dream too big. I want them to know that the son of a union steelworker can still grow up to be the vice president of the United States of Ohio.

And I know that we can do that, ladies and gentlemen, so long as we take what is great about our state and build upon it, so long as we take what is amazing about the state of Ohio, and refuse to let Sherrod Brown and Amy Acton screw it up. So I've got just a few simple questions for you, ladies and gentlemen.

Tomorrow, will you take every person you know, so long as they're legally eligible -- we're not Democrats. Will you take every person you know who hasn't yet voted, take them to the polls and vote for Vivek and Jon? Are you ready to send a message that the governor's mansion belongs to the people, not a crazy, left-wing lunatic?

Are you ready to send a message that this Senate seat belongs to the Buckeye State, not to Chuck Schumer? Then, ladies and gentlemen, I ask you, vote for Derek Merrin, vote for Vivek Ramaswamy, vote for Jon Husted tomorrow, Ohio. Let's get it done. God bless you and thank you for having me.