Vice President JD Vance is amplifying his message for next year's midterm elections, when Republicans will be defending their congressional majorities.
Vance, speaking at a major conservative summit this weekend, pointed to the Democrats and predicted that Republicans "are gonna kick their ass next November."
The comment from the vice president on Sunday sparked immediate chants of "USA" from the crowd at the annual AmericaFest conference by Turning Point USA, the influential and politically powerful conservative group.
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The annual gathering was Turning Point's first since co-founder and conservative champion Charlie Kirk was assassinated in September.
Vance and Charlie Kirk were close friends, and the vice president, who credits Kirk with his political rise, appeared to blame "far left" Democrats and their agenda for his death.
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"If you miss Charlie Kirk, do you promise to fight what he died for? Do you promise to take the country back from the people who took his life?" Vance asked the crowd.
While President Donald Trump remains the top draw, Vance is expected to play a large role on the campaign trail next year on behalf of fellow Republicans and his address at Turning Point, as well as his speech in battleground Pennsylvania a week ago on the issue of affordability, are likely to be an appetizer for things to come in 2026.
"The VP will be playing a big role on the trail next year," a source close to the vice president told Fox News Digital.
But pointing to the president's and vice president's anything but stellar poll numbers, the Democratic National Committee (DNC) argued, "Here's the reality J.D. Vance and Trump are unwilling to face: Americans give them record-low approval ratings for failed leadership that has led to massive layoffs, skyrocketing prices, and economic uncertainty."
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"Every stop on the White House's midterm campaign tour reminds Americans of how Republicans have made life harder. One year into the Trump-Vance administration, their 2024 coalition is unraveling because they have betrayed their own voters to give tax breaks to billionaires," DNC rapid response director Kendall Witmer emphasized in a statement to Fox News Digital.
While Vance has yet to say anything publicly on whether he'll launch a 2028 campaign to succeed the term-limited Trump, he is considered by many on the right to be the president's heir apparent to eventually take over the MAGA mantle.
And the conference, which drew tens of thousands of MAGA supporters, kicked off on Thursday with Charlie Kirk's widow backing Vance in 2028.
Ericka Kirk, who took over the reins of Turning Point after her husband's murder, said, "We are going to get my husband's friend JD Vance elected for 48 in the most resounding way possible," in 2028. "Forty-eight" refers to the number of the next president.
Vance, at the top of his speech on Sunday, thanked Kirk for her "kind words of support for this administration and for me personally."
The backing of the vice president by Kirk and Turning Point, which is particularly influential among younger conservatives and whose political arm has built up a powerful grassroot outreach operation, could give Vance a major boost should he decide to run for president in the 2028 election.
