Vice President Vance addresses RNC rally in Council Bluffs

COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (WOWT) - Vice President JD Vance made a campaign stop in western Iowa on Friday in support of Republican candidates.

Dozens of people lined up ahead to his speech at the Republican National Committee’s Midterm Rally at the Mid-America Center. Two protesters also stood outside the rally.

Vance spoke for about 40 minutes at the Republican National Committee rally in Council Bluffs, using the event primarily to promote Iowa Republican candidates and defend the Trump administration’s record.

The vice president told supporters that the Trump administration is delivering on jobs, immigration, taxes, crime, prescription drugs, and agriculture.

The rally started at 11 a.m. — about the time Air Force 2 landed at Eppley Airfield — with doors opening at 9:30 a.m. Vance took the podium a few minutes after noon. The RNC listed the event as a midterm rally featuring Vance.

Focus on agriculture

A large portion of Vance’s speech focused on agriculture.

He talked about protecting Iowa farmland from foreign ownership and making it easier and more affordable for Iowa farmers to operate, like working to reduce or even eliminate the “death tax” for family farmers.

Vance welcomed Iowa farmer Clint Goknauer and his family onstage with him, saying their story stood as an example of the Trump administration’s economic impact on farmers.

The vice president also talked about expanding agricultural exports, crop insurance, and the farm safety net. While farmers were definitely in favor of a wider market for corn exports, President Trump’s plans to increase beef imports — something he also suggested last October — didn’t land well.

Vance also highlighted the administration’s commitment to right-to-repair laws and increased availability of E15 ethanol.

Endorsing Zach Lahn

At the rally, Vance endorsed and heaped praised on Zach Lahn, Republican candidate for Governor of Iowa who is running against Democrat Rob Sand.

He said Lahn — a Washington outsider — was an advocate for Iowa farmers who would protect farmland from foreign buyers and large corporations. He also said Lahn was an advocate for families who would give parents more control over education, strengthen families, and keep young people in Iowa.

Vance repeatedly contrasted Lahn with his opponent, arguing that Sand’s campaign presents him as more moderate than his past record suggests. He also stressed to Republican supporters that Democrats have moved too far left.

The vice president called Sand a longtime partisan Democrat trying to present himself as a moderate. He said Sand has been changing or softening positions for political purposes.

FACT CHECK

• Vance said Sand supports abortion rights. Sand has said he would fight restrictions on reproductive freedoms, but has also said that he thinks the six-week abortion ban goes too far.
• Vance said Sand opposes Republican-backed restrictions involving transgender athletes’ participation in sports. However, Sand is on the record as supporting a law that would ban transgender athletes from competing in high school or college sports that don’t align with the sex they were assigned at birth.
• Vance said Sand’s views would undermine gun rights. Sand has said repeatedly that he is a hunter who supports the Second Amendment.

Backing Iowa’s other GOP candidates

In addition to showing the Trump administration’s support of Lahn, Vance also went to bat for other Republicans running for re-election in November and took direct aim at Democrats — Sand in particular.

In addition to endorsing Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, and Iowa Agriculture Secretary Mike Naig in their bids to remain in office, he also showed his support for Republican Senate candidate Ashley Hinson, who was not at the rally, and Congressional candidate Chris McGowan.

DEMOCRATS’ PRE-EMPTIVE RESPONSE

Leaders of the Iowa Democratic Party held a news conference on Thursday in anticipation of Vance’s upcoming visit. They also focused on the campaign messaging of Rep. Ashley Hinson, who represents Iowa’s 1st Congressional District.

Previous Iowa visits

Vance was in Iowa a few months ago, when he spoke to a manufacturing facility in Des Moines, alongside Republican Congressman Zach Nunn, who is running for re-election.

The vice president’s last publicly announced visit to the Omaha metro was in August 2024, when he attended a fundraiser in Omaha hosted by Sen. Pete Ricketts and his family. At the time, he was the Republican vice presidential candidate and Donald Trump’s running mate in the 2024 election.

Touting Trump administration accomplishments

The vice president also called attention to the progress being made in the Trump administration on priority issues.

EMPLOYMENT

Vance said the administration has added a million jobs.

Fact check: Sourced totals put that number closer to 878,000.

PRESCRIPTION DRUG COSTS

The vice president talked about the administration’s commitment to lowering drug prices. The White House published a “fact sheet” on Friday highlighting Trump’s efforts to bring drug prices down, including the creation of TrumpRx.

Fact check: Experts have said it’s difficult to pinpoint the direct cause of any price declines, however, as Inflation Reduction Act policies and Medicare price negotiations have also played a role.

NO TAX ON TIPS

In his speech on Friday, Vance called attention to the removal of taxes on tips, overtime, and Social Security.

Critics say the Trump administration has provided no data to supported claims of thousands of dollars workers are saving with the “no tax on tips policy.” Instead, they say, that impact is coming by way of deductions from 2025 federal income tax filings — and that Social Security and Medicare taxes still apply. They also say those who have actually claimed the tips deductions aren’t seeing those amounts push savings beyond the normal deduction.

Financial experts have also made the case that engaging in military conflicts has “wiped out” tax cuts Americans were promised.

IMMIGRATION

Vance also said the country has dramatically reduced illegal border crossings under President Trump.

While Homeland Security recently touted 16 months of zero border releases just this week, a special report from The Associated Press notes that the number of releases at the Mexican border started climbing during Trump’s first term.

Fact check: The AP report shows that border crossings were dropping prior to Trump’s re-election in 2024. The report also says the administration focused its enforcement efforts on locations that had been popular migrant destinations, like New York City and Miami, and the southwest border — but had overlooked larger migrant influxes in Madison, Wis., and Stamford, Conn., as well as in California’s Silicon Valley.

Homeland Security said in a release last week that DHS has arrested more than 2,150 known or suspected terrorists, deporting 2,015 of them. According to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE has arrested 74,082 “noncitizens.”

Recent reports from Reuters and The Marshall Project have also said that “soaring” immigration arrests in recent months have not resulted in any notable increases in deportations.

CRIME

Another hot-button issue, crime has become entangled in immigration concerns. In deploying ICE agents to arrest those he called the most dangerous illegal immigrants, the administration has also been touting the country’s low crime rate.

On Friday, a federal appeals court blocked the administration’s efforts to deport detainees to a country in which they’ve never lived even as stories about detainees’ poor treatment at the now-closed U.S. detention center known as “Alligator Alcatraz” continue to emerge.

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