Vice President JD Vance went to North Carolina to rally support for Republicans ahead of the midterms. Instead, he delivered a message that could just as easily have come from a Democratic campaign.
“Don’t vote for the people who made the problem to begin with,” Vance told rallygoers Monday in Hendersonville.
There’s just one problem with that message: Republicans are in charge of the White House.
Vance was campaigning for Senate candidate Michael Whatley and Jennifer Balkcom, a state representative running for Congress. But while trying to convince voters that Republicans have the answers to rising gas prices, he offered a line that invited an obvious follow-up question: Who’s responsible for the problem now?
“Vote for the people who have solutions to lower the cost of gas; don’t vote for the people who made the problem to begin with,” Vance said.
That’s a straightforward message. It’s also one that puts the Trump administration in an awkward position as Americans grapple with higher prices at the pump.
Vance has tried to pin the blame for rising gas prices on former President Joe Biden rather than President Donald Trump’s costly war with Iran. But that argument faces an inconvenient reality: Trump is president now, and Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress. That means voters can hold his administration and congressional Republicans accountable for what happens on their watch.
The White House can point fingers at its predecessor all it wants. But when voters hear that they shouldn’t support the people responsible for creating a problem, some might reasonably wonder whether that warning applies to the party currently running the country.
On social media, users seized on the apparent political own-goal, mocking the vice president for delivering what sounded like an accidental campaign pitch for the opposition.
And Vance isn’t the only prominent Republican whose public comments have created headaches for his own party.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) recently offered Democrats another potential talking point when he warned Fox News viewers about what could happen if Democrats retake control of Congress.
“They would spend every day investigating the president, the first family, the Cabinet, donors to the party, leaders in business and industry,” Johnson said.
That warning could raise concerns among Republicans about aggressive investigations. But it also puts the spotlight on an issue that matters to voters: corruption and accountability in government.
Johnson also offered a less-than-inspiring description of the GOP’s plans for the next two years during an appearance on CNBC late last month.
“What we would do in the next two years is exactly what we have been doing already, and that is putting the conditions in place for a strong America,” he said.
In other words, Republicans are asking voters to give them more time to continue the same approach they’ve already been taking.
Watch Vance’s remarks and some of the reactions below:
JD Vance makes a recommendation on who to vote for in the midterms:
"Vote for the people who have solutions to lower the cost of gas, don’t vote for the people who made the problem to begin with." https://t.co/xgApdqbxxi
— Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) October 20, 2026
