JD Vance
Suspended Microsoft from the H-1B program and then PERM over alleged fraud, now bars eight companies from skilled-worker green cards, and leads early 2028 GOP primary polls near 40 percent.
JD Vance is waging the administration's crackdown on skilled-worker visas with the Nov. 3 midterms less than three weeks away. This week he barred Microsoft and seven other companies, including Adobe, from sponsoring skilled foreign workers for green cards, widening a clampdown that began when he suspended Microsoft from the H-1B program and, the next day, from PERM over alleged fraud. He accuses Microsoft of replacing each laid-off American worker with "one and a half foreign indentured servants"; Microsoft President Brad Smith calls the accusations "completely off base" and warns the move could push talent overseas. At the PERM announcement he redefined socialism as the wish to replace American workers with foreign workers and let boys play in girls' sports, drawing mockery across the political spectrum, including from Justin Amash.
On the trail he warns that Republicans may lose unified control of Congress, as the last five presidents with unified government all did, while insisting the party has "as good a chance as I've ever seen to really defy those historical trends." In Fairbanks he stumped for Senator Dan Sullivan with a 33-minute speech, pairing the visit with a $400 million power-grid announcement.
His economic pitch splits from the president's: where Trump grades his record A+ and dismisses hardship as the price of stopping Iran's nuclear program, Vance tells voters "you can't ignore people's concerns" and that "everything was not going to be fixed in 18 months." Though reported to be the official most skeptical of starting the Iran war, he now holds its hardest line on a settlement, demanding verifiable cuts to uranium enrichment that Iranian officials have rejected. A FocalData survey puts him near 40 percent in early 2028 Republican primary polling, ahead of Marco Rubio and Ron DeSantis, with Trump's approval at 33 percent.
On their plate
Vance suspended Microsoft from the H-1B green card program hours before Trump honored Satya Nadella at the New Golden Age Summit, suspended it from PERM the next day over alleged fraud, and has now barred Microsoft and seven other companies, including Adobe, from seeking green cards for skilled foreign workers. He accuses Microsoft of replacing each laid-off American worker with "one and a half foreign indentured servants" and told the company, "You're a great American company, but you've got to hire great American workers." Microsoft President Brad Smith calls the accusations "completely off base" and warns the restrictions could drive talent overseas and cripple the US tech sector.
With the Nov. 3 vote less than three weeks out, he warns that Republicans may lose unified control of Congress, as the last five presidents with unified government all did, while insisting the party has "as good a chance as I've ever seen to really defy those historical trends" and pointing to possible gains in Minnesota and traditionally blue areas. In Fairbanks he stumped for Senator Dan Sullivan with a 33-minute hangar speech, pairing a $400 million announcement for the Railbelt Transmission Project to lower power costs with attacks on "AOC and Kamala Harris and the rest of them" as seeing Alaska as their "last best hope to take America in a far-left direction," in a race one forecaster now rates as leaning Democratic and where Mary Peltola leads one poll by seven points. He also tells crowds the administration created 1 million new jobs that all went to US citizens, a claim fact-checks call accurate on the total but say masks slower job growth than under Biden and better employment outcomes for foreign-born workers.
As Trump moves to end the war and pauses strikes pending guarantees, Vance is holding the toughest line on any settlement, insisting an agreement requires verifiable restrictions on uranium enrichment. "If you don't want a nuclear weapon, then why do you need 60% enriched fuel?" he asks, setting the opening position that Washington stays open to a deal only if Iran makes meaningful cuts to enrichment because "we're not going to trade words for actions." Iranian officials have rejected the demands, and Tehran's leadership is uncertain after the strike that eliminated Ayatollah Khamenei.
Vance is running an economic pitch that diverges from Trump's ahead of the midterms. Where the president grades his record A+ and dismisses hardship as the price of stopping Iran's nuclear program, Vance acknowledges the squeeze on voters, saying "you can't ignore people's concerns" and "everything was not going to be fixed in 18 months," while asking for another chance to finish the work. The war's inflation fallout is complicating his standing as well: coverage casts him as the senior administration official most skeptical of starting the war, and GOP candidates such as Michigan's Mike Rogers now call for ending it quickly.
A FocalData survey puts Vance near 40 percent in early 2028 Republican primary polling, ahead of Marco Rubio and Ron DeSantis, making him the presumptive front-runner while Trump's approval sits at 33 percent. His midterm swing across the Midwest, South, and Alaska, built around anti-fraud actions, doubles as national profile-building, the same play Democratic hopefuls Pritzker, Beshear, Newsom, and Buttigieg are running on their side. He is booked for a one-on-one interview at the New York Times DealBook Summit on Nov. 18, on a lineup that also includes Elon Musk, Satya Nadella, and Zohran Mamdani.
Key relationships
Trump's vice president and the party's top midterm surrogate, campaigning for Republicans across the country while running an economic pitch that openly diverges from the president's A-plus framing; he also reportedly brokered Trump's truce with Elon Musk over the Epstein files.
Vance barred Smith's Microsoft from seeking green cards for skilled foreign workers over fraud accusations; Smith calls the accusations "completely off base" and warns the restrictions could drive talent overseas and cripple the US tech sector.
Reportedly brokered the truce that ended Musk's clash with Trump over the Epstein files.
Among the figures across the political spectrum who mocked Vance's redefinition of socialism as the wish to replace American workers with foreign workers and let boys play in girls' sports.
