Vance praises redistricting, touts efforts to bring manufacturing back to U.S. at Kansas City stop • Kansas Reflector

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Vice President JD Vance ticked through a list of political topics — from Missouri’s redistricting efforts to the importance of bringing manufacturing back to the United States — at a campaign-style rally Monday afternoon. 

Vance spoke to a small, loud and enthusiastic crowd at a “protecting American workers” event, held at the nearly century-old Milbank Manufacturing company. 

The vice president praised President Donald Trump’s efforts to strengthen manufacturing, pointing to increased job growth and the “biggest growth in manufacturing employment last quarter” since Trump’s first term. 

The St. Louis Federal Reserve reported 12,596 manufacturing employees in April, slightly up after steady decreases since November 2024, when there were 12,711 such employees.  

Vance spoke about the One Big Beautiful Bill, renamed Working Families Tax Cut Act by Republicans, and its importance in lowering taxes, noting that all but one Democrat voted against it. As the crowd shouted in agreement, Vance said Republicans are the only party that fights to protect jobs and provide tax cuts for working-class Missourians. 

“I hate to say it, ladies and gentlemen — it is not the Democratic Party that my mamaw and papaw belonged to,” Vance said. “It’s not the Democratic Party that was patriotic and believed in supporting working people. It’s the Democratic party that has been given over, unfortunately, to a lot of crazy people.” 

Vance, and several politicians, including Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe, spoke about the importance of the new Missouri congressional district maps, recently approved by the state’s Supreme Court for use in August elections. Milbank Manufacturing is located in the state’s 5th District, where Vance encouraged those in attendance to make sure a Republican is elected. 

“We’re rooting for any good Republican in this seat,” Vance said, adding that he was stepping into the role of “JD Vance, prophet” to say that any Democrat who promised to care about the people of Missouri would be pretending.

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe spoke at Milbank Manufacturing on May 18, 2026, before Vice President JD Vance took the stage to praise Trump administration efforts at supporting the manufacturing industry. (Photo by Morgan Chilson/Kansas Reflector)

“In reality he’s going to get there and fight for Nancy Pelosi, because that’s what Congressional Democrats do,” Vance said.

Kehoe, who spoke before Vance, praised the “unbelievable congressional team” that represents Missouri’s values. Six of Missouri’s eight U.S. representatives are Republicans. 

“We now have the Missouri 1st map that gives us a chance at seven,” Kehoe said. The state’s redistricting efforts targeted Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s seat. 

Vance continued to criticize Democrats as he talked about a program he heads that focuses on prosecuting people who commit fraud in government programs. He said Democrats only “get fired up” about “illegal aliens,” open borders and higher taxes. 

“I’m asking you to vote against Democrats because they don’t know who they fight for, or if they do know, they’re fighting for illegal aliens and they’re fighting for fraudsters,” Vance said. 

Dennis Slupski, who worked in manufacturing for 10 years and then as a teacher for 25 years, said he agreed with what Republican leaders said at the event, especially about bringing manufacturing back to the United States. 

The Kansas City, Kansas, man said he grew up in Ohio, known for its steel industry. 

“We had presidents and politicians that shipped our industry out of the country,” he said. The United States thrived as a manufacturing country during World War II, and it’s important to bring companies back to the country, Slupski said. 

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WATCH: Vance speaks at a manufacturing facility in key election state Iowa

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Vice President JD Vance, making his first trip to Iowa since taking office, promoted the administration’s tax and tariff policies while framing the GOP as being on the side of working-class voters as he campaigned in the state where Republicans in less than two years will cast the initial votes to pick their party’s next presidential nominee.

Watch Vance’s remarks in the video player above.

Standing before hundreds of supporters at a steel manufacturing facility, Vance repeatedly drew a contrast between Iowa Republican Rep. Zach Nunn and his Democratic challenger, telling the crowd that Nunn and the Trump administration were “fighting for you instead of fighting against you” as he attacked Democrats on issues of immigration and fraud.

READ MORE: What to watch in Tuesday’s elections in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan

“This is not a normal election. This is not a normal political environment,” said Vance, who is seen as one of the GOP’s strongest potential candidates for president in 2028. “This is a contest between a party that wants to take all of your money and give it to illegal aliens and a contest between gentlemen like Zach Nunn who fight every single day for you.”+

Nunn faces a competitive race to keep his Des Moines-area seat in the November midterms. Vance frequently heaped praise on Nunn, calling him “one of those guys who does the right thing, not just when the cameras are on, but when the cameras are off, too.”

The visit to Iowa offered Vance an opportunity to test his reception before Iowa’s voters, whose leadoff caucuses give them an outsize role in determining the next presidential nominee. Campaigning for a local congressman in his role as vice president provided him with a chance to make an impression on Iowa Republicans, seasoned evaluators of those who seek the nation’s highest office, before the campaign begins in earnest.

Vance’s appearance comes days after Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is also considered a possible 2028 candidate, spoke to a group of evangelical Christians who are influential in Iowa’s GOP contest.

READ MORE: Trump’s influence tested in Indiana primaries after failed redistricting push

Jimmy Centers, a Des Moines-based Republican political consultant, said that the 2028 contest is “light-years away” but that the Republicans who hear Vance speak on Tuesday will be evaluating how he might measure up in an election for the White House.

“I certainly think, as of right now, Vice President Vance would probably be a straw-poll winner of Iowa Republicans for 2028. But I don’t think anyone is saying, ‘We won’t consider anybody else,'” Centers said.

Vance’s visit comes as higher prices for gas and fertilizer hit Iowans

Vance, who has not said whether he will run for president in 2028, appeared with Nunn at Ex-Guard Industries in Des Moines.

The vice president’s visit follows a trip Trump made in January to tout the administration’s tax cuts, part of a string of stops they’re making this year on economic issues before midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.

READ MORE: Trump’s influence tested in Indiana primaries after failed redistricting push

But Vance’s visit comes when his own political prospects — and the message he delivered on the economy — have been complicated by the war in Iran.

The vice president, who has long been skeptical of foreign military interventions, has seemed a reluctant defender of the 9-week-old war, for which Trump has struggled to find an off-ramp. Iowans, like much of the rest of the country, are grappling with higher gas prices because of the conflict. But the state’s farmers are also feeling the pinch of high fertilizer costs from the war and have been hurt by tariffs Trump has imposed.

Vance made a nod to those cost struggles in his remarks, saying that he’s aware of the rising price of fertilizer and noted: “We got a little blip.” Nonetheless, he said the administration is “working on it.”

While Iowa’s farmers have steadfastly supported the president, they have been looking to the White House for assurances that the current troubles won’t last.

Vance, who met with Iowa Gold Star families just before his public remarks, also became emotional as he discussed the sacrifices made by fallen U.S. soldiers and their families. He talked about wondering how he would react if his 6-year-old son, Vivek, who accompanied him Tuesday, told him later in life that he wanted to enlist, saying he would be “so proud of him” but also “so terrified.”

“Every time that a person gives the ultimate sacrifice to the United States of America … there’s a whole crew of people who love them the same way that we all love every single member of our family,” he said, adding that “part of how we earn that incredible sacrifice” is “by making this country’s politics and government worthy of the people who put on the uniform and will never see their loved ones again.”

Earlier Tuesday, Vance, who represented Ohio in the U.S. Senate before becoming vice president, stopped first in Cincinnati to vote in Ohio’s primary elections and told reporters he was voting for Vivek Ramaswamy in the governor’s race. Asked about U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, who’s running in a special election to serve out the remainder of Vance’s term, Vance said he thinks Husted’s “going to do a great job” and has been “good for Ohio.”

His 6-year-old son, meanwhile, filled out a ballot for children, which the vice president showed to the poll workers when he cast his own ballot. “He voted for the Easter bunny over the tooth fairy,” he said of his son.

Before arriving in Iowa, Vance also appeared in Oklahoma City to hold a fundraiser in his role as finance chair of the Republican National Committee.

It’s ‘awfully, awfully early’ in the road to 2028

Kim Schmett, a longtime Iowa GOP activist, said the presidential cycle starts “deceptively slow.”

He said Trump’s Make America Great Again political movement “is very alive and going here” in Iowa, which would benefit Vance — as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also thought to be a potential candidate.

“I think there’s going to be a lot of MAGA support,” he said. “And Vice President Vance and Marco Rubio seem to be the recipients of where that is going at the moment.”

But Schmett cautioned, “It’s awfully, awfully early in the process.”

On the Democratic side, at least half a dozen presidential prospects have been making visits to the states with the earliest presidential primary contests, including recent visits to Iowa by former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Michigan U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin.

Meanwhile, potential Republican presidential candidates “are treading very lightly,” said GOP strategist Alex Conant, who worked on Rubio’s 2016 presidential campaign.

“I think Republicans are going to be very reluctant to get in Trump’s way until Trump gives the green light for the campaign to start,” Conant said.

That means much of the groundwork to meet with donors or activists or recruit political staffers might happen slowly and subtly – for now.

After the midterms? Conant said: “It’ll be irresistible.”

Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report from Washington.

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