By Nathan Layne, Nandita Bose and Steve Holland
DALLAS, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Vice President JD Vance took center stage at the Republican convention in Dallas on Thursday in a speech seen as an early test of his 2028 White House prospects, offering a message of nationalistic pride that resonated with the pro-Trump crowd.
As party leaders grapple with slipping approval ratings and uncertainty over November's midterm elections, they are also looking for signs of who might eventually carry President Donald Trump's movement forward.
Trump, who followed Vance to the stage with closing remarks, offered little commentary on his vice president's high-profile appearance, instead imploring supporters to vote Republican on November 3, the stated purpose of the first-of-its-kind midterm convention.
The president has yet to signal who he would back in 2028, though Republicans frequently speculate about whether Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio is best positioned to lead the party after he leaves office.
With Trump constitutionally barred from seeking a third term, Vance is widely regarded as a leading contender for the nomination. He spoke of an "American birthright" to safety and prosperity that he said Democrats opposed.
“Don't give the country over to a bunch of crazy people because you happen to disagree with us on a policy issue here and there," Vance said, reinforcing a convention theme that cast Republicans as the party of common sense and Democrats as the party of "crazy."
Vance's 40-minute speech stayed largely on script, unlike Trump's free-wheeling speaking style, and at times resembled a presidential nominating convention speech.
But in one apparently spontaneous moment, a protester waved a Mexican flag, prompting Vance to respond, "Well, my friend, if you love Mexico so much, get your ass over there," triggering a loud round of applause and chants of "USA, USA, USA."
Vance then offered to buy the man a plane ticket.
Supporters cited the 42-year-old's youth and appeal to grassroots activists as reasons he is well positioned to advance the party's populist, anti-establishment agenda once Trump leaves the political stage.
Some in the crowd chanted "48, 48," suggesting Vance could become the country's 48th president in 2028, but Vance said Republicans first needed to concentrate on winning the November midterm elections.
Before Vance took the stage, Republicans used the convention to portray Democrats as dangerous extremists ahead of November's midterm elections, with Senator Ted Cruz of Texas accusing them, without substantiation, of being part of a "new and dangerous red-green alliance" between communists and Islamists.
FUTURE BEYOND TRUMP
Throughout the two-day gathering, speakers sought to energize Republican voters by focusing on immigration, crime and cultural issues – frequently attacking Muslim politicians – as the party confronts questions about its future beyond Trump.
Listing what he considered the ills of life under Democratic President Joe Biden from 2021 to 2025, Vance said, "We were tired of being called racist for noticing that our country was becoming dirtier and poorer and less safe and less prosperous."
There was less emphasis on issues that voters tell pollsters they are most concerned about such as the economy, especially inflation and the cost of living, and the U.S. war on Iran.
Kyndra Yamaguchi, a board director of the Tea Party faction in Montgomery County, Texas, said the convention was accomplishing its goal of energizing Republican voters.
"It stirs the base, which I think it's really needed right now, especially here in Texas," Yamaguchi said.
Even if Thursday's program was supposed to showcase Vance, the visual cues inside the 20,000-seat arena pointed overwhelmingly to Trump.
Oversized photos of Trump lined the walls, including the image of him raising his fist after an assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, and a towering floor-to-ceiling poster showing him standing before massive steel coils at a factory.
Ahead of Vance's speech, attendees packed the floor and filled the arena's middle tiers, though the upper sections remained largely empty, much as they had the night before.
'HILLBILLY ELEGY'
A Marine veteran and Yale Law School graduate, Vance first gained national prominence through his memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," which recounted his upbringing in a working-class community battered by industrial decline and his family's struggles with poverty and addiction.
Trent Morgan, 29, a party chair in Newton County, Texas, said he likes Vance as one of the party’s strongest communicators. But he does not want Trump or the Republican Party to choose the 2028 nominee before voters get a say.
“That’s the great thing about primaries, us as voters get to decide,” Morgan said. “It’s not good for a party to play kingmaker."
Robert Greeley, a Texas Republican attending the convention, said he wants Vance to be more willing to distance himself from people he believes are undermining the Trump administration, even if they are longtime allies. Vance has said political allies could disagree and remain friends.
“I know he’s trying to turn the temperature down,” Greeley said. “It’s way past that time.”
When Trump followed Vance to the stage, he first promised to be brief after having spoken for two hours the night before and saying, "I don't feel like going over the same material again."
But in his 25-minute speech he soon reverted to the speaking style he has employed at political rallies over the years, reciting a list of perceived grievances against the news media and his political opponents, unverified stories and exaggerations interspersed with occasional verifiable statements.
At one point he implored the crowd to repeat his words, which included referring to himself as "the greatest president in the history of the United States."
Trump made a final plea for election turnout, telling supporters they would "go to hell" if they did not vote in November.
(Reporting by Nathan Layne, Nandita Bose and Steve Holland; Writing by Joseph Ax and Daniel Trotta; Editing by Michael Learmonth and Howard Goller)
