Press Gaggle: JD Vance Speaks to Reporters Before Air Force Two Departure - October 9, 2026

Good morning everybody. It's good to see you all. Uh, I, uh, I voted for Vivek Ramaswamy and Jon Husted, [Inaudible] senator, big shock. Also, uh, Jay Edwards is my very dear friend for state treasurer, so to all [Inaudible] care about what I think. Jay Edwards is a great guy. Vivek Ramaswamy will make a great governor.

And Jon Husted has been a great senator. So, please reelect these guys. The thing I always try to remind people is don't judge a politician by what they say, judge a politician by what they do. And while Sherrod Brown has pretended to be a great fighter for working men and women in his T- -- TV ads [Inaudible] policies that shift American [Inaudible] overseas.

He was bad for Ohio and I don't think we should give him another chance. And Amy Acton, it's just, it's almost too easy. The person who more than any other shut down our schools during COVID, made it impossible for kids to go to get an education and really has no idea what she wants to do for the people of Ohio.

Let's elect Vivek, Jon Husted, and of course, Jay Edwards, they're great people, they'll make great public servants.

Mr. Vice President, um, you have talked a lot about your Christian faith in recent, uh-

Sure.

-- [Inaudible]. How does that mesh with the Pentagon's announcement that they wish to livestream the firing squad execution of the Fort Hood shooting?

Well, first of all, I've seen these announcements. I don't know that that's actually gonna happen. Let's, let's sort of see what, I, I think it's gonna happen in December when, when he's executed. But what I try to remind people is, look, this is a guy who committed, in, in my view, the worst terrorist attack on American soil outside of 9/11. The people that he was meant to treat, the army soldiers that he was meant to treat for mental illness and other problems, he took them at their most vulnerable and gunned down these people where they lived.

So, whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don't forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people. Now that said, I mean, look, if it's ultimately live streamed, I'm not gonna be watching it.

Mr. Vice President. [Inaudible] questions. Data centers. Uh, one under construction and another still being discussed in Trenton, just 10 minutes from where you grew up.

Yeah.

You know that area well.

I know very well.

Uh, you said you support these facilities but want to make sure they don't increase electricity costs for everyone. Question, how can these massive projects help boost the economies of small towns?

Well, they've got to help boost the economies of the small towns because the companies that are building have to actually make the commitment to do so. If you're building a data center and you're actually tapping into the existing power grid, you're making energy costs go up, you shouldn't be building that data center.

This is why, one of the reasons why the president has been such a leader on the Ratepayer Protection Pledge. He's basically said, "If you're going to go into these places, you should actually be providing power back into the electricity grid. You should be providing good construction jobs." And I, and I fundamentally think that dynamic, that conversation is going to have to exist between the local communities and the data centers.

If you look at certain places, like for example, in Louisiana, there's a five gigawatt -- Louisiana, there's a five gigawatt data center that's going in. The people who are building the data center are giving every teacher on the ground a $50,000 bonus and they're feeding power back into the electricity grid.

That's how you make these things a win-win for the community. So, data centers can be good, they can be bad. It's up to the local communities and the data centers to make sure they come to an accommodation that's good for our citizens. The president thinks that's possible. It's just gonna require a lot of work for the people on the ground who are actually building these data centers.

But look, I'm, I'm optimistic. I do think that we're gonna figure this out. We're gonna make these things an economic engine for the American people, but it's gonna require them to be respectful of the local communities and to make sure they're putting power back into the grid, not taking it out.

[Inaudible]. Uh, local, uh, prominent, uh, donor Eric Deters has accused the administration of like a quid pro quo, saying that Kimberly Guilfoyle, uh, asked him to, uh, uh, pay off $100,000 credit card debt for access to Trump administration officials. Do you have a reaction to that and is that how the, the administration works?

Well, certainly not, man. Look, these are allegations. And what I always say is we don't try people in the court of public opinion. We try people in a court of law. I've seen that Eric Deters has accused Kimberly Guilfoyle, who I know and have, have known for a long time. Uh, look, these are accusations.

You don't take messages that people allegedly had between one person or another or one person's story and say, "Oh, because of that, Kimberly Guilfoyle is, is guilty." I think that's absurd. Let's actually see what the facts are. Let's see what the truth is. And obviously, if there was something bad that happened, then people have to suffer consequences for it.

Mr. Vice President, question about affordability here- How important is it to you to win the state of Ohio for Republicans, uh-

[Inaudible].

-- as you look to a 2028, uh, [Inaudible].

Well, look, I, I, I think it's, it has nothing to do with 2028. It has to do with how we're gonna govern our country over the next two years, the next 10 years. I mean, you know, Jon Husted, hopefully, will be a senator for a very long time, uh, not just in 2028, but beyond. And I, look-

-- country over the next two years, the next 10 years. I mean, you know, Jon Husted hopefully will be a senator for a very long time. Uh, not just in 2028, but beyond. And I, look, I, I do worry that if we elect a bunch of radicals, the country's gonna take a massive, massive step backwards. Uh, if you look all across the country, Democrats could have responded to Donald Trump's landslide win in 2024 by saying, "You know what?

We're gonna moderate a little bit. We're not gonna try to force women to play, or men to play in women's sports. We're not gonna try to force boys into the locker rooms with girls. We're gonna maybe try to build some common sense economic policies that promote prosperity." Instead, what they've done is they've doubled down on cheap labor, they've doubled down on open borders, and they've doubled down on men and women's sports.

That's not how you appeal to people, but it's certainly not how you govern a country. So I want Democrats to lose and I want John Houston to Vivek to win because I think it'll be good for the people of Ohio and good for the people of the United States of America.

Mr. Vice President.

Actually, we'll do him first and then you.

Uh, affordability's a huge topic right now in this, uh, election. Uh, grocery prices are up 2.2% from last year. What do you tell Ohioans, uh, uh, and across the country really, when it comes to affordability, why should they stick with the Republicans with these close races right now?

Well, what I tell Ohioans is, look, we, we know that people are worried about affordability and it's something that we are laser focused on fixing every single day. I also, you know, I, I try to level with people and be honest that we inherited the worst inflation, I thought that was somebody's head. [Laughs] We're good.

Uh, I mean, I just knocked somebody in the head. Look, it's just a microphone. [Laughs] No worries. Um, but what I always tell to people is that Rome wasn't built in a day. What you've seen the president able to do is $19 trillion of new investment in the United States of America. We are re-industrializing.

We're seeing a major manufacturing boom in the United States of America. But it takes time to build those factories. It takes time for people to be in those jobs where they're actually getting those dignified wages and building a product that we're all proud of. So, but what, what I'd say is we've made a lot of progress.

Things are certainly -- inflation is way lower today than it was when we took office. It's way lower today than at the peak of the Biden administration, but there's still a lot of work to do. And what I'd ask the American people, the people of Ohio is, do you want to double down on the policies that have the ship moving in the right direction or do you want to go back to the policies that had the worst inflation crisis in 50 years in the United States of America?

I think the choice is obvious, but obviously it's up to the voters to make that decision. Go ahead.

Mr. Vice President, you talk a lot about the re-industrialization of the United States.

Sure.

The Trump administration has added more than 70,000 manufacturing jobs in the last year, more than 100,000 construction jobs. The S&P flash composites as a business activity is at the fastest growth rate in the last five years. If voters reelect Republicans, Republicans control the House and the Senate, how much better can you continue this trajectory that you've already set the country on from a reindustrialization perspective?

Look, I, I think that is the thing that is the most important about this election, because if we don't continue to reindustrialize the country, all the incredible advantages that we've seen over the last couple of years, they can disappear and even go in the other direction. $19 trillion in new investment, that's thousands and thousands of new companies, new factories, new jobs.

All of that can go away if we elect a bunch of communists who want to make it easier to ship American jobs overseas. Uh, I, you know, one, one other point I'll make about this is part of the reason I care so much about re-industrialization is because I care about American jobs. If you work hard, if you play by the rules, you ought to be able to support a family, you ought to be able to buy a home, you ought to be able to take your kids on a nice vacation.

That is, to me, the essence of the American dream. You have a good life in this country so long as you're willing to work for it. But you already see in an announcement that we made yesterday where we're trying to make it harder for major corporations to undercut the wages of American workers and bring in indentured servants to replace American jobs, you see Democrats aggressively saying, "No, no, no, no. We want to continue to allow corporations to bring in indentured servants from overseas to undercut the wages of Americans." That is absurd.

We fight for American workers, we fight for their jobs, we fight for their wages, we fight for their dignity. That's our job as an American government and an American president and vice president. We're going to keep on doing it, but we'd love to have some help from our congressional allies. Thank you guys.

See ya.

Mr. Vice President.

Okay guys, you got to back up. Give, give full shot at the plane, okay? Get him going up.