Vance tells Michigan voters the economic turnaround will take more than 18 months

Vice President JD Vance told Michigan voters on Saturday night that fixing the economy will take longer than the year and a half his administration has had so far. Facing a room of residents in a televised town hall, he said the country is "turning the ship around" but asked for patience on prices, wages and factory jobs.

The hourlong session came 17 days before the Nov. 3 midterms. Michigan is one of the states that could decide control of the Senate, where Republican Mike Rogers faces Democrat Abdul El-Sayed in a tight race.

A small business owner asks when relief is coming

Sandy Johnson, who owns a family entertainment center, told Vance her business is barely getting by and asked when ordinary people will have money to spend again. Vance blamed decades of choices by both parties that sent good jobs overseas and left American workers behind. He pointed to new foreign investment pledges and expansion plans by the big Detroit automakers as signs that manufacturing is coming back.

He was also blunt about the timeline. The country was not broken in a single presidential term, he said. Repairing it will take more than 18 months. Unemployment has stayed low, but inflation remains above the Federal Reserve's 2% goal and the number of manufacturing jobs has barely moved.

Gas prices and the Iran war

Keshon Wheatley, a Detroit barber, said he voted for the president in 2020 and 2024 in part because gas was cheap. Prices are much higher now, he told Vance. This fall he plans to back El-Sayed. Vance admitted gas costs too much and tied the spike to Iranian attacks on oil tankers. He said prices will fall once the conflict ends and that walking away would let Iran control shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

The most emotional moment came from Joey Amor, whose wife, Army Reserve Master Sgt. Nicole Amor, was one of six soldiers killed by an Iranian drone at a base in Kuwait in the opening hours of the war. Amor said a string of mistakes left the site exposed and asked who would be held accountable. Vance said he did not doubt there were failures. He said some information does not reach him but promised to take every failure seriously, adding that troop positions had been changed after leaders saw a serious error.

Twenty-one U.S. service members have been killed and hundreds wounded since the fighting began in late February.

Immigration, H-1B remarks and corruption

Sister Nancy Sylvester, a Catholic nun, asked Vance how he squares immigration enforcement tactics with his faith. He said the goal is to enforce the law humanely without doing so little that dangerous people are emboldened. Most immigration agents are patriots, he said, but those who badly mess up should be investigated and disciplined.

Another voter pressed him on his past description of some H-1B visa holders as indentured servants. "To the extent that my rhetoric has been imperfect here, that's on me," Vance said. He said his criticism was aimed at companies that replace American workers rather than at the visa holders themselves.

Asked about polls showing voters worry about corruption in Washington, Vance called the capital a corrupt town but said he has seen no evidence that the president takes part in it. Anyone selling access to the White House should face consequences, he said.

Data centers and 2028

A woman who lives across the street from a data center said its constant hum means her family can no longer open the windows. Vance said data centers can bring real benefits but should be good neighbors that pay more in local taxes and do not push up home power bills.

On his own future, Vance said there is "of course" a chance he will not run for president in 2028. He joked that he is a procrastinator on big life decisions and noted that he and his wife, Usha, have four young children.