JD Vance, Vice President, has framed the midterms as a battle between “common sense” and “pure unadulterated crazy,” and he is pointing his finger squarely at Democrats. Speaking at a rally in Iowa, Vance argued that today’s Democratic Party has drifted far from the one his family knew, and he named specific candidates whose positions he says prove his point.
“This is not FDR’s party, as much as we might wish it was. It’s not JFK’s party. Ladies and gentlemen, it’s not even Bill Clinton’s party,” Vance said. He went on to describe a party that no longer believes the country needs to be “built upon” but “utterly transformed.”
Vance’s Family Story
Vance raised by a union steelworker whose father said “FDR’s Democrat party, that JFK’s Democrat party was the party of the workingman.” That family memory shapes how he talks about the current fight.
He used the rally to draw a sharp contrast between the Democrats of his youth and the party running now. His father’s praise for FDR and JFK is part of the story he is telling — a party of the workingman that has become something else entirely.
Candidates and Their Positions
Vance spent considerable time describing specific Democratic candidates he says hold radical positions. In New York, he said some midterm candidates call for the “total eradication of Western civilization.” He also noted that one candidate said July Fourth is about the liberation of Palestine and Puerto Rico.
“You could almost laugh about” Thomas Jefferson writing the Declaration of Independence and thinking about the liberation of Palestine and Puerto Rico, Vance said. The joke lands because the candidate took July Fourth and turned it into something his grandfather would not have recognised.
Vance also cited candidates who claim “our history is evil, and this country needs to be bulldozed and started over from the beginning.” He called others “out-and-out lunatics” who “have lost their ever-loving minds.” Some, he said, are “smart enough to realize that the country hasn’t lost its mind, and, so, they try to be just a little bit more subtle.”
Kansas Senate Race
One of Vance’s sharpest targets was Kansas Senate candidate Adam Hamilton. Vance described Hamilton as giving off a “kind of ‘gee whiz, I’m a nice pastor’ vibe” but telling his congregation to repent for their White privilege.
Recent polls show a tightening race between Hamilton and GOP incumbent Roger Marshall. Vance’s comments about Hamilton came at a rally where he also supported Iowa Republicans Zach Lane, Rep. Ashley Hinson and congressional candidate Chris McGowan.
The Common Sense Pitch
Vance closed with a direct appeal to voters. “It’s not funny because those people are dead serious, and this election is a referendum on common sense versus pure unadulterated crazy. Let’s send the crazy packing and get them out of Washington, D.C.,” he said to cheers.
The phrase “common sense versus pure unadulterated crazy” is the core of his argument. It positions ordinary voters as sensible and protective of American tradition, while casting the political establishment as radical and dangerous.
What This Means for Voters
Vance’s message is simple: vote Republican to protect American values. The specific candidates he named are unverified, and his claims about their positions are presented without evidence beyond his own description.
The rally was designed to energise supporters ahead of November. Vance is making the case that the midterms are not just about policy but about identity — which party represents the America his family remembers.
Where the paper stands
The paper backs neither side of Vance’s framing and instead backs judging candidates issue by issue against the north star of individual freedom, small business and avoiding concentrations of power. The rally was a performance, not an argument.
Vance’s pitch is personal and emotional — a family story about a party his father loved that has changed. But the paper judges candidates on their positions, not on which candidate can claim the mantle of a long-gone party. The paper’s north star of individual freedom, small business and no concentrations of power does not sit comfortably with a campaign built on fear of the other side.
Voters should look past the insults and ask whether any given candidate actually supports the paper’s north star of individual freedom, small business and avoiding concentrations of power. The rally’s cheers were real, but they are not proof of anything beyond enthusiasm. The positions themselves matter, not Vance’s claims about them.
Key Facts
- Speaker: JD Vance, Vice President
- Location: Rally in Iowa
- Phrase: “common sense versus pure unadulterated crazy”
- Target: Democratic Party candidates
- Specific candidates named: Adam Hamilton, others in New York races
The charges Vance made are serious. He called candidates “lunatics” and said their positions are “dead serious.” Whether voters agree depends on the positions themselves, not Vance’s claims about them.
Vance is doing exactly what a politician does in a tight election cycle — he is using fear to energise his base. The question is whether the fear lands.
What Vance said was blunt and specific. He named candidates, quoted their positions, and told a story about his father’s party that no longer exists. The rally was a chance to reinforce that story with his supporters.
The midterms are a referendum on common sense versus pure unadulterated crazy, in Vance’s telling. The question is whether voters believe the story.
Source material: “Vance calls midterms a referendum on ‘common sense versus pure unadulterated crazy',” Fox News.
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