Fact checks, takeaways: JD Vance stumps for Michigan Republicans

Vice President JD Vance rallied in Howell, urging Michigan Republicans to turn out and vote
Vance touted Mike Rogers for the US Senate and urged voters to send US Rep. Tom Barrett back to Congress
He also sought to blame Democrats for high gas prices and claimed Democrat Abdul El-Sayed would ‘kill’ the auto industry

HOWELL — Vice President JD Vance rallied for Republican candidates in Michigan on Tuesday, calling the state’s Nov. 3 contest “the most important election in the United States of America.”

Vance focused on the US Senate race between Democrat Abdul El-Sayed and Republican Mike Rogers as he suggested the Michigan election “highlights the clash of competing visions” between the parties, suggesting the “far-left has decided to run … against common sense American values.”

His visit came just two days after President Donald Trump rallied in Port Huron with Michigan’s slate of Republican candidates.

Related:

Many of those same faces were in Howell with Vance on Tuesday, including Rogers, gubernatorial nominee John James, attorney general candidate Doug Lloyd and secretary of state candidate Anthony Forlini.

The rally was in the 7th Congressional District, where US Rep. Tom Barrett stressed the importance of retaining his “critically important” seat amid a challenge from Democrat William Lawrence. The race has become one of the most expensive in the nation this cycle.

But the US Senate race took up much of the attention, with Vance criticizing El-Sayed at length in his roughly 40-minute speech inside an airport hangar in the heart of conservative Livingston County.

Republican candidate for U.S. Senate Mike Rogers speaks at a midterm campaign rally at CHI Aviation in Howell, Mich., Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

“Next Tuesday, Michigan is going to remind the entire country exactly who it is,” Vance said. “It loves the United States of America, and it’s going to send Mike Rogers to fight for it in the US Senate.”

Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel accused Vance of coming to “brag about the very policies that have driven up costs and left Michigan families worse off.”

Voters “will reject Trump and the Michigan Republicans who enabled him at the ballot box,” Hertel predicted.

Fact check: El-Sayed wants to kill auto industry

After touting the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, Vance argued that El-Sayed has called to “open our doors to the world and leave American workers behind.”

“He says that he wants to pass a Green New Scam and kill the auto industry of the state,” Vance added.

The immigration claim stems from a 2018 Detroit PBS interview with El-Sayed, who was running for governor at the time.

El-Sayed was not calling for fully open borders, however. Instead, he was responding to a question specific to refugees when he stated: “I believe, we owe it to the world to open our doors, and we’re better because of it.”

Earlier he had been asked to weigh in on then-Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s attempt to grow the state population through immigration.

Vance’s auto industry claim stems from El-Sayed’s past support for the Green New Deal, which proposed a goal of eliminating carbon emissions that would have required a shift to EVs but never passed Congress.

But El-Sayed never explicitly called for a ban on gas-powered cars, as Republicans have claimed while arguing he would destroy Michigan’s top industry. His campaign says he doesn’t support a ban now.

Takeaway: Blaming Democrats for gas prices

Vance acknowledged high gas prices, which Democrats have used to hammer the Trump administration and its ongoing war in Iran.

But Vance downplayed the association between the war his administration started and those prices, as Trump did over the weekend.

“You’ll hear many say that gas prices are too high, ladies and gentlemen,” Vance said. “I understand that it’s true, but the deeper truth is that the price of gas goes up each time a foreign leader in the Middle East throws a tantrum.”

The average price of gas across Michigan was $4.76 a gallon as Vance visited on Tuesday, according to AAA. That was 50 cents higher than the national average of $4.26.

Republican gubernatorial candidate for Michigan John James speaks at a midterm campaign rally at CHI Aviation in Howell, Mich., Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

When Vance visited Michigan in August, the state average was $4.15. The US recently set a record for the most days with gas above $4 a gallon in a calendar year, according to ABC News.

In his speech, Vance argued that Democratic policies enabled the price hikes, including the failed Green New Deal and oil refinery closures during former President Joe Biden’s tenure.

“But under President Trump … we just announced, for the first time in a long time, a major expansion of an American refinery right here, with American workers,” Vance said, referencing the building of a $300 billion Texas-based refinery that was announced in March.

“For the first time in a long time, we are drilling more, and we are making energy development a core priority.”

Fact check: $250 billion returned to Michigan?

In his remarks Tuesday, Vance sought to highlight achievements of the Trump administration during the president’s second term, including ending taxes on tips, overtime and Social Security.

“We’ve done this, my friends, because sovereignty starts when you control more of your own money,” Vance said. “You work hard for it. It’s yours.”

Vance also said the administration has “taken $250 billion away from the bureaucrats and fraudsters, and given it back to the people of Michigan,” which are questionable claims.

The $250 billion figure comes from a White House task force that was formed in March and is intended to combat fraud.

But that figure lacks specificity, relies on temporary pauses in federal funding and, in some cases, actually cites cases and legal actions that predate Trump’s second term, according to a New York Times review of documents released by the administration.

There’s also no indication any of that money went back to Michigan.

While the Trump administration did extend tax cuts and create others under the “big, beautiful” bill, it paid for the law by cutting future public assistance spending and growing the national deficit.

Takeaway: A plea to the undecided

The race between El-Sayed and Rogers is expected to be close, which Vance acknowledged by looking into a TV camera and making a direct plea to “the people watching at home who are still undecided about who exactly they’re going to vote for.”

Electing Rogers, James and Barrett is critical in order to “further build upon the great momentum of the last 18 months,” Vance said, touting tax cuts and the potential for additional manufacturing jobs in Michigan.

Vice President JD Vance speaks at a midterm campaign rally at CHI Aviation in Howell, Mich., Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2026. (Saul Loeb/Pool Photo via AP)

But backing Rogers does not mean backing everything Trump has done, he argued, noting Rogers has “said things that have been independent of the administration” by calling for an end to the Iran War and Canadian tariffs.

“I don’t want in Mike Rogers a servant for the administration,” Vance said. “I want in Mike Rogers a servant for the people of Michigan. That’s his job.”

Republicans are facing significant headwinds in the lead-up to Nov. 3, with Trump’s approval rating hitting record lows, which could portend poor turnout for GOP candidates.

“When I’m on the ballot, we win everything,” Trump acknowledged Sunday in Port Huron. “When I’m not on the ballot, that’s the midterms … people don’t show up. Please show up and vote, because essentially we are all on the ballot.”

Fact check: El-Sayed on defunding the police

When highlighting the differences between El-Sayed and Rogers, Vance claimed that El-Sayed “says that he wants to defund the police and abandon Michigan to crime.”

While there is ample evidence that El-Sayed supported defunding the police in the past, there’s little evidence to support the claim he wants to allow rampant crime.

Republicans have hammered El-Sayed over his past comments about the “defund the police” movement, which he voiced general support for following the 2020 killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin.

“I believe we need to defund the police insofar as defunding the police is disinvesting in the means of incarcerating someone or killing them on the streets, and investing more in the means of educating and empowering, engaging communities with the means of being able to take on systemic poverty,” El-Sayed said at the time in a Detroit Public Radio interview.

El-Sayed has not proposed defunding law enforcement as part of his 2026 campaign, and his campaign says he doesn’t support doing so.

Instead, he has called for “comprehensive public safety” and to “fund all of the things we need,” including police and community violence intervention programs.