Vance-linked group launches 2028 effort to win back ground for conservatives

A new Republican group with ties to Vice President JD Vance launched on Monday, in an initiative aimed at flipping congressional seats red in the 2028 elections.American Ascent, run by former Heritage Foundation chief of staff Ryan Neuhaus, is not affiliated with Vance, who is a likely 2028 presidential contender. But it is partnering with Turning Point Action, which has endorsed Vance ahead of a possible White House bid, and the Claremont Institute, a prominent think tank that awarded the vice president its statesmanship award last year, according to Politico.American Ascent hopes to recruit young candidates as it eyes dozens of congressional seats held by aging lawmakers as flip opportunities in two years, after Republicans saw sweeping losses in last week’s midterm elections. A pinned video on its X account announcing the new group highlights a past speech from Vance. “We have a nursing home ruling class running America,” Vance said in the montage. “We can’t change them. What we can do is replace them with all of you, and that’s exactly what we aim to do. That’s No. 1. You are America’s best hope.”Among the issues American Ascent plans to focus on is hyping a hard-line immigration agenda, arguing that deportations are a key motivator for young voters. The new group’s take is notable, as it appears to be in contrast to President Donald Trump, who has so far declined to offer Vance his endorsement and recently said the White House’s deportation platform had been “too tough,” adding that it could have helped cost Republicans the midterm elections.American Ascent’s harsher view comes as Vance appears to tend toward a nativist-leaning view of the United States, often favoring a more anti-immigration-leaning tone in speeches, and calling for a slowdown in the admission of newcomers to the U.S. He has suggested that economic issues, healthcare problems, higher crime rates, ethnic violence, and antisemitism in the U.S. are linked to heavy migration.In a speech last year at the Claremont Institute, Vance said being an American is not only about shared values, but about a shared history and heritage. The vice president rejected the premise of the U.S. as a “purely creedal nation” or “purely an idea,” saying it is not enough for newcomers to be in agreement with the “credible creedal principles of America,” the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution, if they aren’t swiftly assimilated into U.S. culture.“America is not just an idea where a particular place with a particular people and a particular set of beliefs and way of life,” he said. “Citizenship must mean recognizing the unique relationship, but also the obligations that we all share with our fellow Americans. You cannot swap 10 million people from anywhere else in the world and expect America to remain unchanged.”WASHINGTON SECRETS: MAGA INSIDERS BELIEVE VANCE WILL RUN, BUT AREN’T SURE IF HE SHOULD RUNIn a speech at the Republican National Convention in 2024, Vance reiterated the idea that holding American values and believing foundational principles is not enough to qualify as a citizen, as he told a story about a Kentucky cemetery near his family’s “ancestral home” where he said seven generations are buried who “have built this country … and would fight and die to protect this country.”“That is not just a set of principles,” he said. “That is a homeland. People will not fight for abstractions. But they will fight for their home.”