Vance urges NC Republican voters to turn out in ‘make or break’ midterm races
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Vice President JD Vance made his pitch for why voters should stick with Republicans in the upcoming midterm elections during an appearance in North Carolina on Monday.
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Vance headlined a GOP rally at the Koury Convention Center in Greensboro alongside the party’s U.S. Senate hopeful, Michael Whatley, and a slate of U.S. House candidates. The vice president’s visit came less than a week after President Donald Trump rallied for Whatley in Gastonia as Republicans look to defend key seats against apparent political headwinds.
At Monday’s rally, Vance called November “make or break” for the country, repeatedly accusing Democrats of “bending the knee to the far left.”
“Let’s send a message to the Democrats: cut out the crazy,” Vance told the crowd. “We’re taking our country back.”
Vance also made an appeal to undecided North Carolina voters, acknowledging that some former Trump supporters “don’t necessarily agree with everything that’s happened over the last 20 months.”
“To anyone who’s still making up their mind, it is very simple. If you’re unhappy with the pace of progress, don’t hand power back to Democrats who drove our country to the ground in the first place,” he said.
The vice president touted the Trump administration’s resume, repeating claims that the administration has created 1 million new jobs and that the national murder rate is at a 126-year low.
Vance also targeted former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, Whatley’s opponent in the race to succeed outgoing U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis. He criticized Cooper for vetoing voter ID legislation and the law known as the Parents’ Bill of Rights while in office.
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The vice president also invoked Iryna Zarutska, the Ukrainian refugee fatally stabbed on Charlotte’s light rail in 2025. Republicans have blamed Cooper for Zarutska’s death, arguing a COVID-era prison settlement led to the early release of the suspect in the case, DeCarlos Brown, Jr. But the North Carolina Department of Adult Correction said that interpretation does not reflect what happened, The Charlotte Observer reported previously, saying Brown was not released early at all.
“I ask a pretty simple question, ladies and gentlemen: Do you want a person in Washington representing you who bends the knee to the far left? Absolutely not. And because we need somebody who will fight back against the far left, we need Michael Whatley in the United States Senate,” Vance said Monday.
In a statement, a Cooper campaign spokesperson said “independent fact-checkers” have called the claims about Cooper’s record on crime “false.”
“Michael Whatley is getting desperate and it’s shameful that he’s using heinous crimes to try to deceive North Carolinians,” the spokesperson said.
The race between Cooper and Whatley is expected to help decide which party controls the U.S. Senate. Recent polls show Cooper with anywhere from a 5- to 15-point lead in the race, and the party that doesn’t hold the White House tends to fare better in midterm election cycles.
But Vance told the crowd Monday the GOP is “ready for this fight” and encouraged Republicans to turn out to vote in North Carolina and beyond.
“It will take more time and the support, of course, of our great American people to finish the job,” he said. “But we can’t get it done — we can’t keep growing our economy; we can’t secure the border; we can’t support American workers or and families — unless we’ve got allies in Congress, people like Michael Whatley, and the great congressional candidates we have gathered here today.”
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This story was originally published September 21, 2026 at 3:22 PM.
