Vice President JD Vance says Democrats have “lost their minds” on crime and will make communities less safe, a midterm contrast Republicans are pressing as they fight to keep Congress.
Speaking after a campaign stop in Tyler, Texas, Vance told Fox News Digital that voters face a basic choice on public safety this November, and that Democratic leadership fails that test.
The vice president framed the coming election around secure neighborhoods, energy costs, and foreign policy clarity, arguing Republicans share core principles even when voters disagree on other issues. He made the case while stumping for GOP candidates, including Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in a tight U.S. Senate race.
Vance’s pitch lands as Republicans work to hold Congress and sell a law-and-order message against Democratic alternatives he cast as soft on violent crime.
Vance tied his critique to recent trouble in Minnesota and the broader Democratic record on criminals and community safety.
“It sort of drives home how the Democrats have kind of lost their minds,” Vance said.
"It sort of drives home how the Democrats have kind of lost their minds"
He went further on what a Democratic win would mean for neighborhoods.
"And if you elect Democrats, you're fundamentally electing people who will invite criminals into your state, into your communities and make your communities less safe."
By contrast, he cast Republicans as aligned on fundamentals.
"If you elect Republicans, you may not agree with us on everything, but we agree on some basic principles"
He listed those principles in plain terms: everyone should be safe, communities should be secure, and violent criminals should not be welcomed into the country. He said the Minnesota situation makes that contrast “a little bit more starkly” for voters.
That public-safety line fits a wider pattern of Vance delivering blunt verdicts on Democrats in direct political messaging.
He also nodded to the Minnesota Senate picture, where Democratic Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan is vying for a U.S. Senate seat and faces a challenge from Republican Michele Tafoya.
Vance’s Tuesday remarks followed a rally at Tyler Pounds Regional Airport in Tyler, about 100 miles east of Dallas, as he campaigned for Republican candidates including Paxton. He said Paxton will make a “great senator.”
Paxton, the Republican Texas attorney general, is locked in a contest with Democratic state Rep. James Talarico, a progressive Senate candidate. Talarico recently returned from a two-week stretch off the campaign trail and has demanded a debate.
Vance questioned the absence in the heart of the race.
"You've got to have the energy to do the job, and taking two weeks off the campaign in October, that's the meat of the campaign, I just think it's a very, very bizarre thing."
He even wondered aloud about Talarico’s age, “Thirty-five? Forty?”, while stressing stamina for the job. The article did not confirm Talarico’s age or a reason for the break.
On a debate, Vance refused to force the issue. He said the decision belongs to the candidates and that campaigns have to negotiate those terms, adding that each man must make his case to Texas voters. President Donald Trump has said Paxton and Talarico should debate and posted on Truth Social that Paxton is “ready, willing, and able.”
Vance’s own 2028 standing has drawn separate attention in party circles, including coverage of how Trump signaled backing for Vance with donors, but his Texas trip stayed fixed on the midterm map in front of him.
Photo captions in the report placed Paxton at the Texas GOP convention in Houston on June 12, 2026, and Talarico at a Kerrville campaign rally on Aug. 31, 2026, markers on a race now heading into the fall stretch.
Crime was not the only pressure point Vance addressed. Fox News polling from September showed 61% of respondents calling gas prices a major problem, up from 48% two years earlier. Healthcare costs were tagged a major problem by 52%, up from 44%. Housing registered at 54%, down from 60%, and groceries at 62%, down from 66%.
The same report tracked pump prices rising from a national average of $2.98 a gallon at the start of the war in Iran earlier this year to $4.33 “today.” Vance said the administration wants prices “as low as they possibly can” and argued voters should ask who has taken steps to lower them while Iran menaces shipping.
He pointed to the president’s announcement allowing Russian diesel into the market and to plans to build on U.S. refinery capacity, while conceding that adding refining capacity takes time. He said he is “very cognizant that a lot of Americans are struggling with high gas prices” and that officials are doing what they can to ease the pain.
A similar poll found 71% of respondents saying the Trump administration lacks a concrete strategy for ending the war in Iran. Vance answered on the nuclear file, saying Iran will “stay off the pathway that's developing a nuclear weapon,” and that the president and the full administration have been clear on that point.
Party rivalries still simmer in the background, including episodes where Ted Cruz hit back at Vance over 2028 sniping, yet the vice president’s Tyler message stayed on crime, costs, and the choice before voters.
Separate reporting has also tracked how Cruz has built toward 2028 while needling the vice president, another reminder that Republican ambitions run on more than one track.
Vance has mixed big-stage politics with smaller public moments before, including a hometown bakery stop that put workers in his motorcade, but the Texas interview was all business for November.
Vance’s closing frame was simple: Republicans may not win every argument, but they start from shared ground on secure communities and keeping violent criminals out. Democrats, in his telling, have drifted from that baseline and would import more risk into the states they run.
With the midterms approaching, he is betting that voters feel that gap in their own towns, and that they will punish the party he says invited it.
Lawful communities are not a fringe demand. They are the bare minimum, and politicians who treat them as optional should not expect a free pass in November.
