Speech: JD Vance Addresses a Midterm Political Rally in Harlingen, Texas - September 30, 2026

Harlingen, Texas. I'm so grateful to be here. And Harlingen, let me, uh, give a few shout-outs, so gotta bear with me for a moment. First, I've gotta send my best to a couple of patriots who could not be here with us today. One is your governor of the great Greg Abbott and you're reelected. And second, of course, is the amazing Attorney General and your next Senator Ken Paxton.

Lets hear for Ken Paxton. And we've also, of course, got a great slate of future congressional warriors. People are gonna lower your taxes. People are gonna fight to lower costs. People are gonna fight to ensure that the crazy far left doesn't take over this country. We've got first, D'rinda Randall, chairwoman of the Texas Republican Party.

D'rinda, thank you. A man who knows what it was like when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were running the southern border and knows how much better it is under Donald Trump's leadership, Paul Perez, the president of the National Board of County. Thank you, Paul. The great state comptroller for the great state of Texas, Don Huffines.

Don, where you at, man? Thank you. And we finally have a truly all star team of congressmen and soon to be congressmen here with us today. So before I introduce or reintroduce the great Eric Flores, let me invite the amazing Brandon Gill to come on stage and say a few words. Brandon?

Aren't we lucky to have the greatest vice president in American history with us here in South Texas? An administration that is fighting to put our working class first, to fight for the American people and make sure that we have a government who is representing us and putting our people first. We thank you so much.

Thanks for being here. And thank you for fighting to save Texas 34.

[Inaudible] I gotta say, I got a lot of congressmen who I really admire and really like, but I think Brandon Gill is one of the great all stars in not just Texas, but the American Republican Party. And now we have to, of course, welcome the next great Texas all star, Eric Flores, come up here and say a few more words, Eric. [Audience chants "Eric"]

Mr. Vice President, this is South Texas. Look at -- [Laughs] -- look at this crowd. Look at this energy. Mr. Vice, thank you for showing up for us. Thank you for believing in South Texas. And thank you to President Donald J. Trump for having the courage to lead and fight for what matters most to us here in South Texas.

Our faith, our families, and our freedoms. That's who we are here in South Texas. That's what we believe in. And those are our values always worth fighting for, Mr. Vice President. God bless you. God bless Donald J. Trump, and thank you so much for your courage.

Well, you guys have an amazing slate of all stars here. Now, Brandon did say that I was the greatest vice president in the history of the country. Now -- [Inaudible] -- I had a little bit, a little bit of an advantage, but let me just say, I gotta say a few words about the next congressman for the good people of Texas 34, a true son of the Rio Grande Valley and the next congressman for this district, Eric Flores.

Eric, thank you so much. You know, Eric is a fighter. He's a fighter for the people in this room, but he's also a fighter for his country. He's a former federal prosecutor, a person who locked up the bad guys and made our streets safer. He is a former army officer who will always defend law and order across the great state of Texas.

In fact, he's taken the fight directly to the cartels, leading security operations on the border to protect great American cities like the one that we're standing in right here. So let's give it up for border security. Let's give it up for fighters. Let's give it up for Eric Flores. Look, our mandate here is simple.

We gotta fight for the people who send us to Washington D.C., not for the fraudsters, not for the career politicians, not for Wall Street, not for anybody but the people that we answer to. And right here in Texas 34, you guys have the best population, the best group of people, the best home, and you need somebody to fight for you instead of against you.

My friends, look where we are in just 20 months. The American comeback is well underway under the presidential leadership of Donald J. Trump. But, but we know that we have got to keep the wins coming. Last month, we marked one million new jobs in the United States of America. Last month, we found out that violent crime is falling at its fastest rate in American history.

We found out on day one that the border is secure, and we now know that the murder rate is at a 126-year low in the United States of America. And it's not just that. Ladies and gentlemen, trillions of dollars of new investment are pouring into our country. Money that, for decades, was sent overseas, was sent to distant shores, is now being invested right here in the United States of America.

Ladies and gentlemen, all across our country, we're investing and breaking ground on new factories. We are building new facilities that are gonna be filled with American workers, and they're gonna be building everything of the future. They're gonna be building ships, they're gonna be building chips, they're gonna be building the cutting-edge technologies that are driving the future.

But we're not just talking about the technologies of the future. We're talking about the strength and dignity of this congressional district and we're talking about a fighter like Eric Flores who is gonna work with us and work for you. You know, I'm a, I'm a big believer that you ought to have elected leaders not that you agree with on every single issue but that fight for your dignity, that fight for your jobs, and fight for your family.

And here's what I'm talking about. I'm talking about the dignity of a good job that rewards you for hard work and lets you provide for your family. I'm talking about the kind of job that earns the respect of your kids and your country and your neighbors. I'm talking about the dignity of being able to walk down your own street at night without worrying who else is gonna be there.

I'm talking about the dignity of raising your kids according to your values and sending your kids to a school where they're gonna get an education, not an indoctrination. We're talking about the dignity of growing up in a place where criminals and cartels have no say over your way of life, the way you do business, or your ability to prosper.

And I'm talking about the dignity of knowing you have a country where you decide who comes into the United States of America, not the drug cartels. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what your leaders in Washington owe to the people of this incredible district, it's what they owe to the people of South Texas.

And for 20 months running, the president and I and our leaders in Congress have fought to deliver exactly that. Over the last year -- I'm very proud of this. Maybe I wish it was Ohio, by the way. [Laughter] If we're gonna talk about Texas versus Ohio, you all owe me. I've been a Buckeye fan since I was six years old, and that is the most heartbreaking loss I have ever seen.

So give it up to the great Texas Longhorns. You guys earned it. It was a good win. But you're not just number one in football, you're number one, Texas is, in leading the nation's job boom. Building permits for new homes in Cameron County are at their highest levels in two decades. Right down the road, we've got the amazing Starbase facility where you're quite literally leading America into the stars.

And in just a single year, we are crushing crime all across South Texas, particularly in Brownsville and the town that we sit in today. Across 2025, murders were down by 20%, burglaries were down by even more, car crime and car theft has been cut in half. And we've done it, and we've done it by doing two very simple things.

The first of all is that we gave control of our streets back to you instead of the drug cartels. And importantly, we backed the blue in Brownsville and everywhere else in Cameron County. Now let's talk about the economy a little bit more because thanks to the investment we brought in, Texas is red-hot as a result.

Since 2025, your great state is leading the nation $670 billion in committed manufacturing investments just in the great state of Texas. That's, that's a c- -- an amount of money that is almost difficult to comprehend. That's $670 billion flowing all across this great state. It's flowing into Harlingen and it's flowing into Brownsville.

But you don't have to take my word for it. Because before I got here, I was right down the road at the Port of Brownsville with your governor, the great Greg Abbott, and we were doing a ribbon cutting for Port Alpha, a next generation shipyard. Now, now that shipyard is going to lead to the creation of 10,000 jobs in South Texas.

And it's exactly the kind of investment we're proud to see happening in the Trump administration. You know, for my entire life, I saw my neighbors lose their jobs. I saw jobs get sent overseas. I saw factories close down. I saw people laid off. But you know what we've been doing in the Trump administration?

We've been saying that it's time for big American corporations to invest right here in America in American workers for a change, and we made them do it. [Audience chants "USA"]

Now, by investing $3.2 billion into that port, Saronic Technologies, they're the ones who did the groundbreaking. They're creating the most advanced shipyard in the world. Not in Texas, not in America, in the world. And once all is said and done, Port Alpha will generate $250 billion of economic activity in this state.

And, and what that means to me is a kid who grew up in a working class family that's tens of thousands of families in South Texas whose lives are gonna be better and more dignified. That's 10,000 families where mom and dad are gonna have a good paying job with dignity and are gonna be able to spend more money on a home, on a car, maybe a nice vacation.

Thanks to the manufacturing and infrastructure investment our administration is fighting for every single day, we are seeing a building boom across the United States of America and ladies and gentlemen, we're just getting started. [Audience chants "USA"]

And ladies and gentlemen, the work is paying off. There's a lot more to do, a lot more we need to do. But since we took office, manufacturing wages across this country are up nearly 8%. The men and women actually working the line, they're actually up more than 8%. But that's what happens when you make it worth a company's while to build in Brownsville instead of in Beijing.

It's what happens when you stand up for Americans like the men and women in the Rio Grande Valley and put them first for a change, which is what the government should have been doing the whole time. You know, this idea of bringing dignity back, it informs everything that we do in the Trump administration.

It's why we stood up Trump RX to bring down drug prices. You know, we're seeing the fastest falling prescription drug rates in the United States of America since the 1960s. And you know how, and you know how we did it? We did it because Donald Trump brought the pharmaceutical companies in and said, "Don't you dare charge Americans more than you're charging Europeans.

We wanna pay the same rates that everybody else in the world is paying." That's how it should be. We've banned Wall Street from buying up all of America's housing supply, ensuring that American homes go to American citizens, not to illegal aliens and not to foreign investors. And very close to my heart, we have boosted tax credits for parents and we've invested $1,000 in each new baby born in this country with Trump accounts.

Every new baby. And I remember when the president, you know, I started thinking the president might ask me to be his vice presidential running mate. And my wife said, at the time we had three beautiful little kids, she said, "Well, JD, you can be vice president or you can have a fourth baby, but you can't have both." [Laughter] Ladies and gentlemen, let it be known that I am very persuasive because I am the vice president and we just had a fourth baby too.

So wait. But I gotta, I gotta say, ladies and gentlemen, we would not have gotten any of it if not for the incredible congressional leadership of patriots like Brandon Gill and Nathaniel Moran who passed the biggest tax cuts for working families in American history. And I haven't talked as duh- -- as much about Nathaniel Moran, of course, because Eric is the man that we gotta focus on today.

We're gonna get Eric Flores elected next congressman. But -- [Audience chants "Eric"]

-- but Nathaniel Moran is the reason why we cut taxes on tips. Congressman Moran is why we have no taxes on overtime, no taxes on Social Security. He's the reason why we broke ground on a $250 billion facility because for a change, you've got congressmen who are fighting for you instead of against you. And Congressman, I might ask you to come up and say a few words.

Congressman Moran, come on up.

Aren't you glad to have a vice president that is all in for you here in South Texas? Listen, he's all in for your faith, your family, for your freedom, just like Eric Flores is, just like he will be when he is your next congressman. But I'm gonna tell you something. I grew up in a home that we, we read the Bible and in Revelation it says you're either hot or you're cold, but if you're lukewarm, we're gonna spew you out, right?

I'll tell you who's lukewarm these days. He says he's a moderate Democrat. That's Vicente. What do we need to do with Vicente? We need to spew him out of our mouth. And we need to get somebody in Congress like Eric Flores that is hot for you and for America and for liberty just like our great vice president.

What do you say today, South Texas? There we go.

Thank you. So when you have great patriots like Eric Flores fighting for you, and Nathaniel Moran, and of course Brandon Gill, who benefits? Real Americans. And I wanna call some of them out today. We're, we are very proud to be joined by Marc Garza, who runs Texican BBQ right here in Brownsville along with his GM, Sergio Gomez.

Where are you guys at? Now, thanks to no taxes on tips and overtime, they've been able to expand operations and most importantly, they have been able to keep more of their own money in their pockets. And here's what I need you all to remember. When you go and vote in November, when you talk to your friends about the election, when these guys expand their business, when they're able to spend more of their hard-earned money on their families instead of on government, every single Democrat in Congress voted against that legislation, and that includes Vicente.

He voted repeatedly to keep taxes on your tips, to keep taxes on your overtime hours, and to keep taxes on Social Security. Ladies and gentlemen, he's had his chance for a decade in Washington D.C. and he hasn't done anything with it, so let's send him packing and send a patriot like Eric Flores. Now, we gotta remember our administration, we have spent every single day fighting for you, digging ourselves out of the hole that Joe Biden left us in. Remember when Biden and Kamala were at the wheel, inflation reached a 48-year high.

Home prices doubled. Texas felt it as much as anyone. And my favorite thing during the campaign trail, by the way, is I would say that inflation is at its highest level. This is back in 2024. I'd say under, "Joe Biden and the Democrats, inflation is at its highest level in 49 years." And the media would come along and they'd say, "No, no, no. Fact check.

It's 48 years. Highest in 48 years." [Laughter] Sorry, CNN, that's not a whole lot to brag about. But I, I, I wanna speak not to the people in this room, but to everybody who's watching on the local news on cameras. I know that there are people out there who are frustrated by the pace of progress as we dig out of that hole.

Look, sometimes I'm frustrated with it. Hell, for starters, I wish Congress, particularly the Senate, would've passed the SAVE America Act to save American elections. But the difference between congressional Democrats and Republicans is twofold. First of all, they created the problems and we're solving them every single day.

But importantly, maybe more importantly than that, is that look at any Democrat TV ad, it is filled with lies 'cause they're running from their record and they're running from who they are. We gotta remember, Vicente Gonzalez voted with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer 100% of the time. And that's almost hard to do. You think about it, you represent the good people of Texas 34, there's one thing that's just easy.

Maybe even make a mistake. It actually takes a special political talent to vote -- [Laughs] -- with Nancy Pelosi 100% of the time. But Gonzalez voted to continue giving your money to fraudsters rather than American citizens. He voted to raise taxes on Social Security and overtime while we fought to get rid of them.

Gonzalez voted to support the radicals who are attacking our police officers rather than support our police officers, who are throwing the bad guys behind bars. He compared Hispanics who were sick of this BS to Jews supporting Adolf Hitler. [Audience boos]

The truth is this, Joe Biden and his stooges like Vicente Gonzalez put the United States in a terrible hold. And while we've made great progress in digging out of that hole, we need to keep working at it. And the easiest way for you to help us keep working at it is to send Vicente Gonzalez back home and send real patriots to Washington D.C.. When you hear a guy like Gonzalez say that he's gonna solve the problems he created, it's like the firefighter showing up at your house and it's the arsonist at the door.

But there's a deeper truth, ladies and gentlemen, and it's that Vicente Gonzalez and Joe Biden, for 40 years, they've been a big part of the problem, but there's been a deeper and bigger bipartisan consensus to leave places like the Rio Grande Valley behind. I know this because I too came from a place left behind and ignored by leaders in Washington D.C.. And I wanted you to know, I've never been here before in my life, but driving through these streets, I feel a special connection to this place.

It reminds me of my home in so many ways. A place with beautiful people, incredible talent and potential, but a place that has been left behind by the leadership like Vicente Gonzalez for too long. Now, now I see, of course, an incredible diversity of backgrounds just in this crowd here in Texas 34. And I can tell you that yes, my skin may burn in the sun a bit easier than some of yours [Laughter] but for generations, people like your grandparents and parents and people like my grandparents and parents, what do we do? We drove the trucks, we tended the fields, we cared for the sick and elderly, we mined our coal and of course, we fought our wars.

Now, the lie of the radical left, ladies and gentlemen, is that people like me hate people like you or that people like you hate people like me. But we know, we know the truth is that we have so much more in common and the most important thing we have in common is that we love this country and we're not gonna give it over to the radicals. [Audience chants "USA"]

I believe this in my heart that they tell us this lie, this lie that we should hate each other because they want to distract us. They want us distracted, focused on small differences between each other that we ignore that for so long, whether they had an R next to their name or a D next to their name, the powers that be in this country from Washington to Wall Street have gotten richer while our communities have gotten poor.

While they pay for private security, they give our communities over to the wolves and the cartels. While they protect their jobs in Washington, they ship ours overseas. Ladies and gentlemen, we do not have to live with leaders like that who prioritize the fraudsters and the cartels over the good people of Texas 34. And thanks to the leadership of Donald Trump and Eric Flores, we no longer do. [Laughs] But it's almost too easy because that brings me to James Talarico. [Audience boos]

[Laughs] And let me pause because as you know, I've talked a lot about dignity here today, the importance of dignity, of being respected by your leaders of having good jobs that you're proud of. And I gotta talk about a man, who is completely unfamiliar with the concept of dignity. [Laughs] James Talarico, ladies and gentlemen, is a completely, a profoundly unserious person.

He has said he wants to represent the great state of Texas, but very proudly he believes that there are six genders. [Audience boos]

He has said that God is, and I quote, "non-binary," whatever the, whatever the hell that means. [Laughter] And he has voted repeatedly to keep boys in girls' sports. [Audience boos]

And if you watch his campaign, it's clear the guy has made his entire life story about being an allegedly Christian seminarian. [Audience boos]

But I, I, it occurs to me when I see what he's actually done and what he was saying before he was running for Senate in Texas, this guy's real religion is not what we hear in church on Sunday. It's not about grace or the redemptive power of Christ's sacrifice. It's about crazy left-wing politics. His real religion is not about Jesus, his real religion is about the radical left in this country.

Think about this. If your six-year-old son comes home one day and says he's a girl, Talafreako says, and I quote, "It is abusive, abusive, if you don't let school officials put him on hormones and change his pronouns." Nothing in the Bible supports any of this, of course. Now, in my church, and I imagine like a lot of yours, we are taught, for example, that Mary was selected by God to be the sacred vessel because she was, in the words of the archangel, full of grace and blessed among women.

But in the gospel of James Talafreako, Mary was not a woman because there is no such thing. She was a pregnant person, and her son was a little more than a decent philosopher. Now, of course, Talarico doesn't want to talk about this. And to be clear, as we all know, there are so many important issues beyond who plays in your daughter's sports league.

That's important, but there's a lot of important issues beyond it. But you gotta wonder, what really motivates a man who spends so much time talking about 11-year-old drag queens? [Laughter] A man who wears your religion as a cover will never fight for your values and he won't fight for you because he thinks like so many generations of politicians, Talarico thinks that we are backwards and simple.

He's a man so focused on children and drag, he's never gonna care about our jobs. He's a man who empathizes more with criminals than with the victims. And when you em- -- empathize with the criminals more than with the victims, that man is never gonna protect your streets. Now, Talarico sells himself as a new kind of Democrat, but ladies and gentlemen, he is the same old thing.

He is disdainful, disdainful of us, disdainful of our beliefs, disdainful of the things that give us purpose and meaning. He is just like a generation of failed politicians who promise one thing in their TV advertisements, but has failed to deliver again and again. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not asking you to agree with me or the president or even Eric Flores on everything, but I'm asking you to look at James Talarico, to look at his record, to look at his record of fighting for the far left instead of you and to send him packing.

He doesn't deserve to represent the great people of this state. So I guess I'm asking you this, are we gonna vote for someone who says you're a child abuser because you don't wanna trans your kids? [Audience responds "No"]

Are we gonna vote for someone who says we need to end Texas's energy boom and tax families more? [Audience responds "No"]

Ladies and gentlemen, this November, I'm asking for something simple. I'm asking you to vote for patriots. I'm asking you to vote for fighters. I'm asking you to send a message to the far-left radicals of the Democrats that in Texas 34, we fight for our families, we fight for our communities, Eric Flores fights for us. So let's send him to Washington, D.C.. God bless you all, and thank you for having me.