The Latest: Vance plays to the Republican base on the final day of the midterm convention

Missouri’s Republican secretary of state has ordered local election authorities to use its 2022 congressional map instead of a congressional map backed by Trump after the Supreme Court struck it down earlier today. The decision means Missouri will run the general election with a different congressional map than was used in the primary.

An appeals court on Thursday upheld a block on Trump’s executive order limiting mail voting.

Here's the latest:

Cue the balloons: Trump has finished speaking

Trump concluded with a final plea: “Go out and vote.”

He turned the microphone over to opera performer Christopher Macchio, who belted out a soaring rendition of “America the Beautiful” as balloons fell.

Trump lingered and swayed to the music.

Trump brags about ‘no empty seats’ despite thousands of empty seats

The president went on an extended riff about the size of his crowd in the American Airlines Center, the roughly 20,000-seat venue hosting the convention.

“Look at it,” Trump said. “The highest rafter, no empty seats.”

“Look at the upper ring. Look, everything is taken,” he continued. Even the “rich people boxes” were filled, he said.

However, nearly the entire upper deck was empty.

The media, he complained, will report that the room had empty seats.

Finally, after nearly three minutes of boasting, he acknowledged the elephant missing from the room.

“I gotta do a little bit better in the back,” he said.

“I’m not happy with it. That’s not good. I shouldn’t have looked up there,” he added.

Trump touts economy as financial markets show emerging fears

Trump closed out the Republican convention by claiming the stock market had hit 80 highs, the job market is strong and he’s delivering on all of his promises to voters.

The happy talk in Dallas is a contrast to the bleak mood on Wall Street.

The S&P 500 is on a four-day losing streak, instead of setting new records. U.S. oil futures topped $100 a barrel as worries about the Iran war persist. And the inflation and high interest rates that Trump pledged to fix are causing new financial jitters.

The interest rate on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes on Thursday rose above 4.9%, meaning that the expense for mortgages, auto loans and other forms of debt has increased in ways that could slow growth.

Not planning to speak, Trump riffs anyway

The president said he didn’t plan to speak much Thursday at the Republican convention after his keynote address on Wednesday.

But he went on to riff anyway.

“We were a laughingstock all over the world,” Trump said, referring to his predecessor. “But we took that dark age of America and turned it into the golden age of America.”

Vance wraps up his speech, and Trump takes the stage

Lee Greenwood was on stage to sing “God Bless the USA” as Vance left the stage and Trump walked out.

Vance and Trump shook hands as the vice president walked off.

Vance calls Democrats ‘the party of hatred’

The vice president said that Democrats have evolved into a group that stands against America, saying that the country should belong “to those that love it, not those that hate it.”

Vance touched a series of culturally loaded issues on race and immigration.

He took offense at the suggestion by Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, that Vance’s own grandfather would object to his marriage to a woman of Indian descent.

Vance said that Democrats now find sympathy with the terrorists responsible for the 9/11 attacks in 2001 but not people like his grandfather.

“The Democrats are the party of hatred,” Vance said. “They’re the party that despises America and the people who built it.”

Vance asks undecided voters not to turn country over to ‘crazy people’

Vance implored undecided voters to recognize the Trump administration’s record and not hand control of Congress to Democrats.

“Don’t give the country over to a bunch of crazy people because you happen to disagree with us on a policy issue here or there. Look, I’m not asking anybody to agree with me on every single issue. I’m not asking anybody to agree on every single policy,” Vance said at the GOP midterm convention. “What I am asking you to do is to recognize the contrast with the radicals and recognize the achievements of the last 18 months.”

Without explicitly mentioning the Iran war, the vice president invoked conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who “hated war,” according to Vance.

“That was his view. Now, of course, there are people who love what we’ve done and people who don’t. I’m not here to litigate the disagreements between Charlie and some of the people that he disagreed with,” he said.

Vance claimed credit for lower drug prices, but drop due to many factors

Vance claimed that “we actually took on big pharma and lowered drug costs for all of our citizens.”

Federal data shows that U.S. prescription drug prices fell 0.9% in July and are down 3.1% from a year ago, the steepest year-over-year drop since 1963. The White House said these plunging prices resulted from Trump’s “most favored nation” drug deal with pharmaceutical firms and the TrumpRx website.

But drug pricing experts say the real picture is more complicated, noting that other factors, including a law from former President Joe Biden’s time in office that allowed Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies, are potentially more significant contributors to the latest consumer price index figures.

Vance calls Texas Senate candidate ‘Talafreako’

Vance took a swipe at James Talarico, the Democratic Senate candidate.

He praised Trump for coining a nickname: Talafreako.

For his part, Talarico and his supporters have embraced that nickname, printing it on shirts and adopting it as a badge of honor.

Like many speakers across the two-day convention, Vance pointed to comments Talarico has made about religion and transgender Americans, including saying God is nonbinary.

“I got to say, a guy that age who is so obsessed and focused on transgender children, I don’t know about you, but I never want to see that guy’s web browser history,” Vance said.

Vance addresses 2028 speculation

Vance addressed speculation about his presidential ambitions.

“JD 48!” a woman yelled loudly from the stands, a reference to the next president, who will be the 48th. That prompted chants of “JD!” and “48!”

Vance responded by saying his focus for now is the midterms.

“We gotta take care of business this November and then we’ll worry about what comes next,” he said.

Vance credits Trump for building future for families

Vance invoked his family as he credited the president with building a bright future, while attacking the “far left” for working against their “birthright.”

Vance, the father of four including a six-week-old son, defended the nuclear family, which he said was being attacked by Democrats. He said he wants the same thing for American families as he does for his own.

“I want them to keep what they’ve earned when they work hard. And that is the birthright that I’m talking about. That is the country that Donald J. Trump is fighting every single day to defend and to build upon,” he said.

Vance says Trump supporters were tired of being called ‘racists’

Vance opened his speech with an apparent defense of administration efforts to reduce immigration in the U.S.

Vance said voters were tired by factory closures, drug overdoses and crime and then pivoted to immigration.

“And we were tired of being called racists for noticing that our country was becoming dirtier and poorer and less safe and less prosperous,” Vance said.

The statement revealed the delicate politics at play on immigration. Vance falsely claimed during the 2024 election that Haitian immigrants in his home state of Ohio were abducting and eating pets, a falsehood that Trump repeated.

Vance addresses Charlie Kirk’s children directly

“History will record that your father was a great man,” Vance said.

He recalled being nervous to give his speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention less than two years after being elected to his first role in politics as an Ohio senator.

“As I addressed the country on the biggest stage of my life in the front row, right about there,” he said, pointing in front of him, “my dear friend Charlie Kirk was smiling and cheering me and reminding me that I had a good friend right here in the convention hall.”

Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, who took over as the leader of the Turning Point organization he founded, “has carried on his mission with more courage and resolve than most of us will ever be asked to show,” Vance said.

Vance says Trump supporters were tired of being called ‘racists’

Vance opened his speech with an apparent defense of administration efforts to reduce immigration in the U.S.

Vance said voters were tired by factory closures, drug overdoses and crime and then pivoted to immigration.

“And we were tired of being called racists for noticing that our country was becoming dirtier and poorer and less safe and less prosperous,” Vance said.

The statement revealed the delicate politics at play on immigration. Vance falsely claimed during the 2024 election that Haitian immigrants in his home state of Ohio were abducting and eating pets, a falsehood that Trump repeated.

Vance is met with chants of JD but not the loudest cheers

The vice president walked onto the stage after a secret riser behind the podium was revealed with a curtain raise, showing people waving American flags.

The crowd in the arena rose to their feet to welcome Vance as a hype video about him played on screens.

While Vance was met with cheers, the reception did not seem quite as loud as the welcome Kennedy and former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt got as they took the stage.

Donald Trump Jr. says MAGA movement will continue Charlie Kirk’s mission

The president’s son said followers of the “Make America Great Again” movement will keep Kirk’s fight for conservatism alive.

Trump Jr. said that Kirk had inspired a movement to stand up to leftists.

“We will not back down,” Trump Jr. said. “We will not fold. We will honor Charlie by carrying his torch to save this nation that we all love so dearly.”

Trump Jr. said that Democrats wanted to “shove down our throats” a “hellscape.”

Trump is unleashing his political war chest

As Republicans gather in Dallas, the president is also deploying his cash in key midterm races.

No Going Back PAC Inc., which a person with knowledge of the situation said is connected to Trump’s MAGA Inc., has been buying up airtime during the convention. So far it has reserved more than $68 million in advertising.

The person was not authorized to speak publicly about the funding arrangement.

— By Thomas Beaumont

RFK Jr., home in the GOP now, says Democrats lost their way

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lamented what he cast as the transformation of the Democratic Party of his father and uncle at the midterm GOP convention.

The son of a former U.S. attorney general and nephew of President John F. Kennedy, the secretary said the “irony of my presence here is inescapable.”

He enumerated his view that the party had abandoned working Americans for elites and said he found a new home in the Republican Party, eliciting loud cheers and applause.

“The Democratic Party, in short, lost its way,” he said.

Trump also appears in 9/11 tribute video

A video marking the Sept. 11 attacks included images from the devastation and clips of then-President George W. Bush’s visit to ground zero and triumphant first pitch in the 2001 World Series.

It also included images of then-New York real estate figure Donald Trump striding into Manhattan and talking to media about employees for his business who were working at the time of the attack.

The video later turned to images of some Democratic figures who have been critical of U.S. foreign policy and offered more callous statements of the calamity.

The segment wrapped with images of Trump as president, suggesting he had shielded the U.S. from further similar attacks, as presidents since Bush have also done.

In the end, quiet, respectful applause lightly fluttered across the arena.

A solemn tribute to Sept. 11 victims silenced the Dallas crowd

Christopher Macchio’s soaring tenor spiraled through the American Airlines Center, the strains of “Ave Maria” in an almost silent convention center.

It was the most solemn and poignant moment of the convention, a tribute to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York, Washington, D.C., and Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

As Macchio’s voice filled the arena, the floor was darkened, though two beams of light stretched upward, reminiscent of the Twin Towers. Convention goers illuminated their mobile phone flashlights, giving the fitting illusion of candlelight.

The basketball arena’s screens fluttered with images of passenger aircraft striking the World Trade Center towers in New York, footage of frantic Manhattanites and debris-covered police, fire and rescue workers.

A narrator intoned “2,977 innocent people lost their lives,” as familiar videos transitioned to home videos of families.

“Always remember who they are,” the narrator said solemnly. “Say their names. Honor their sacrifice. Defend Freedom. Never forget September 11.”

Looking past GOP base, Republican Mike Lawler of New York appeals to ‘common sense’ Democrats

Lawler, facing reelection in a battleground district this year, appealed to “common sense Democrats and independents” from the GOP midterm convention stage.

It was a different tone compared with the near constant attacks on Democrats.

“While I’m honored to be in this arena with so many fellow Republicans tonight, my message is really aimed at common sense Democrats and independents across the country tuning in and still undecided about their vote in November,” he said.

In an emotional presentation, Lawler appeared on stage with the family of Sheridan Gorman, who was fatally shot this year in Chicago. Officials have charged a man they say was illegally in the country with her slaying.

Trump-pardoned Silk Road founder says the president was a ‘target of weaponized government’

Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the underground website used for selling drugs, thanked Trump for pardoning him last year after being sentenced to life in prison in 2015.

“You gave me my life back, sir,” Ulbricht said while choking back tears.

Some in the crowd at the Republican midterm convention shouted that his plight was similar to that of those imprisoned for participating in the Jan. 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol. He said Trump was also a “target of weaponized government” after the indictments and investigations after his first term.

Ulbricht said there are hundreds of “decent Americans” who Trump freed from prison.

Trump says he'll be a ‘blocker’ of Democrats’ agenda if they win a majority in Congress

“I’ll be a block,” Trump said on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle.” “I’ll end up being a blocker.”

The president suggested he still might be able to strike deals with Congress.

He also defended his promise to give $5,000 payments to each American if Republicans preserve their congressional majorities and said he might not need congressional approval.

He also said that faster economic growth would help to pay down the $40 trillion national debt over time. Growth so far is running lower under Trump than his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.

Michigan Senate nominee says without evidence that his opponent is funded by terrorist groups

GOP nominee Mike Rogers said his opponent is being funded by “terrorist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood,” but offered no proof to back up his claim.

Rogers sought to portray Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee and an epidemiologist, as a terrorist sympathizer because of his relationship with the podcaster Hasan Piker, a liberal online commentator and critic of Israel.

“They treat our country like it’s the villain,” Rogers said of his opponent and Piker.

El-Sayed distanced himself from Piker last month.

Midterm convention crowd falls silent during Kirk remembrance

The normally festive and rowdy crowd inside the American Airlines Center quickly hushed. On the screen was a face known to many of the thousands in the basketball arena, as his voice, just as familiar, came back to life for just a few minutes.

During a five-minute homage to Kirk, the conservative organizer and former President of Turning Point USA shot to death a year ago, the Republican midterm convention sat uncharacteristically quiet.

Video of Kirk speaking and working with young adults, for which he became known as a speaker on college campuses, rolled on the huge screen, while his voice echoed through the silence.

At the short program’s end, a polite round of applause rippled through the seats.

Crowd chants ‘Charlie, Charlie’ during tribute to Kirk

Lucas Miles, a pastor and a Turning Point vice president, kicked off a tribute to Charlie Kirk on the one year anniversary of his death.

“They could take the man,” Miles said. “They could not take the mission.”

He ticked off a list of Turning Point’s accomplishments: thousands of chapters, more than a billion social media views.

“Turning Point is not dead,” Miles said. “The organization Charlie founded is still growing.”

House speaker says US is ‘being attacked from within’ by Democrats

Mike Johnson suggested that differences with Democrats have become irreconcilable, saying “next year the communists will be in Congress.”

“It now falls to us to fight to preserve the country that we love,” Johnson said. “It’s being attacked from within.”

The Trump presidency has been defined by a broader radicalization among Republicans and Democrats alike.

Democrats portray Trump as a corrupt actor who has violated the norms and constitutional standards governing the country, whereas Johnson and others at the GOP midterm convention have said that Democrats are now beholden to political radicals that should be rejected.

The House speaker claimed he has led “the most productive Congress in 80 years.”

Since the start of 2025, Congress has passed 105 laws, down from 274 laws passed in the prior Congress during the final two years of President Joe Biden’s term when Republicans held a majority in the House, according to Govtrack.us.