Vice President JD Vance’s midterm convention address was briefly disrupted Thursday when a heckler waving a Mexican flag shouted “Free Palestine” inside the packed Dallas arena.
Video recorded by the Daily Mail inside the convention center showed the man first taking out a Mexican flag before producing a Palestinian flag.
He pulled the flags from his pocket and threw them into the crowd.
Vance later referred to the interruption, telling the audience: “What the people at home missed is that we just had a protester interrupting us and waving the Mexican flag.”
Addressing the heckler directly, Vance added: “Well, my friend, if you love Mexico so much, get your a** over there! I’ll buy you a plane ticket.”
The arena responded with chants of “USA,” giving Vance the most animated moment of an address that had otherwise been a largely routine political speech.
Before the disruption, Vance also pushed back on remarks by Democratic congressional candidate William Lawrence of Michigan, who said: “F*ck the nuclear family.”
“Stay the hell away from our kids,” Vance said.
Vice President JD Vance listens as President Donald Trump speaks on the first day of the 2026 Republican National Convention at the American Airlines Center on September 9th, 2026 in Dallas, Texas
Attendees applaud at the Republican National Midterm Convention in Dallas on September 10
The vice president used the dais in Dallas to highlight his family, including his wife Usha who recently gave birth to their fourth child.
He half-jokingly stated that given the opportunity to introduce him in Dallas, Usha decided to stay home.
Vance spoke on the main stage on Thursday, as did potential 2028 contender Ted Cruz, one of Texas’ two current US Senators.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has reportedly been privately sharing that he does not intend to mount a 2028 presidential bid, did not speak from the main stage, or attend the event in Dallas. He was instead in Peru this week.
Yet, convention attendees who spoke with the Daily Mail shared that they would want Rubio to run, or would be happy with a Vance-Rubio ticket.
The majority of those who wanted a Vance-Rubio ticket were ambiguous about who they would want at the top of the ballot.
Only one outright said they wanted Vance to be president and Rubio to be vice president. One woman who was ambiguous about who should be the nominee of the two also shared that she would rather have Cruz than Vance.
People attend the Republican Convention on Thursday, September 10, 2026, in Dallas
Several candidates in the country’s most competitive races this fall are also skipping the main stage, among them Maine’s Republican Senator Susan Collins, Congresswoman Ashley Hinson who is running for the US Senate in Iowa, and John E Sununu, the Republican nominee trying to flip New Hampshire’s Senate seat red.
Most prognosticators expect Democrats to win back the US House of Representatives, but the Senate will be tougher with battleground races in Maine, Ohio, Michigan and Alaska set to determine control.
US Senate nominees including Ken Paxton of Texas, Michael Whatley of North Carolina, and Mike Collins of Georgia all spoke, as did incumbent Ohio Senator Jon Husted.
Trump’s cabinet secretaries including Brooke Rollins, Scott Bessent, Dr Mehmet Oz, and even Attorney General Todd Blanche were on the agenda as well.
The two-day event also included a tribute to conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was assassinated while speaking on the campus of Utah Valley University last September. Trump paid homage to Kirk, and his wife Erika during his remarks on Wednesday, calling his murder a ‘shock,’ as well as the people who ‘made an excuse for it or cheered for it.’
The 25th anniversary of 9/11, taking place on Friday, was also commemorated during Thursday’s programming at the convention.