Headlining the second night of the GOP’s midterm convention, Vice President JD Vance delivered a nearly 40-minute speech filled with attacks on Democrats, but noticeably light on boasts about the Trump administration’s accomplishments.

Vance’s speech underscored what the unusual gathering has looked like from the start: a massive campaign rally that carried all of the imagery of the RNC’s 2024 nominating convention in Milwaukee, but with none of the substance.

Throughout the night, Vance repeatedly invoked the term “birthright,” opening with a metaphor about his newborn son and the future every American family deserves.

“I can’t help but look at the future of this country through the eyes of the future of my son, and I can’t help but think about what it is that we’re fighting for and what it is that we want for all of our children,” Vance said.

Yet Vance failed to reckon with two of the biggest flashpoints with voters: the U.S. war on Iran and surging gas prices. Even as he ticked through a list of economic wins, his framing largely measured the Trump administration’s record against what he described as the failures of the Biden presidency rather than the state of the country today.

This backward-looking reframing of history extended to his claims about inflation and affordability, which he described almost entirely in the past tense. He claimed that “workers’ wages fell by $3,000” and that home prices “doubled” during the Biden administration. However, Vance barely acknowledged how many Americans feel squeezed by the rising cost of living, nearly two years into Trump’s second term.

Vance also acknowledged the one-year anniversary of the assassination of right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. He recalled Kirk cheering him on from the front row of the 2024 convention, and described his death in religious terms.

Later in the speech, a protester interrupted the vice president and waved both a Mexican flag and a Palestinian Authority flag, to which Vance replied, “If you love Mexico so much, then get your ass over there.”

In the remaining half of his speech, Vance revived familiar Republican lines of attack at Democratic nominees on the ballot this November, firing off a list of statements he attributed to Democratic candidates in competitive races. Like many of the politicians who spoke before him, Vance singled out Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico by name, mocking him for his past comments on gender.

The remarks capped a broader attack on the Democratic Party, echoed throughout the two-day gathering, one that tried to paint progressives running in 2026 as radical and, at more extreme times, as “evil.”

The speech also gave viewers a glimpse of Vance as the heir apparent for 2028, pitching how he might carry the Republican Party forward and court President Donald Trump’s base without his boss on the ballot. In addition, it offered Americans a glimpse of how Republicans at the convention seemed to view the vice president, as they chanted “JD! JD! JD!”

“It’s pretty cool to hear a crowd that is this fired up chant your name,” he said. “So go ahead and do it again.”

When chants of “48” — as in, the next president — erupted halfway into his speech, Vance did little to temper the crowd’s enthusiasm.

“We got to take care of business this November. Then we’ll worry about what comes next,” Vance said.

According to The Washington Post, Trump has privately told donors he wants to see Vance elected in 2028.

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