US Vice President JD Vance used his address at the Republican National Convention to launch a fresh attack on Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed over remarks about his wife, Usha Vance, before turning his ire on a protester waving a Mexican flag during the speech.
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Vance accused El-Sayed, a Democratic candidate for the US Senate from Michigan, of judging his late grandfather, James Vance, based on race and questioning whether he could have genuinely loved Usha, an Indian-American Hindu.
“He looks at him, sees the color of his skin, and decides that he could never have loved my wife,” Vance said.
The remarks came after Vance and El-Sayed had exchanged barbs over comments about Usha and Vance’s family. During an August campaign appearance in Detroit, Vance had told El-Sayed to “keep my wife’s name” out of his mouth after the Democrat suggested Vance’s late grandfather might have disapproved of his marriage.
Vance then broadened his attack to the Democratic Party, accusing it of becoming “the party of hatred” and saying it had abandoned the traditions associated with former presidents Franklin D Roosevelt, John F Kennedy and Bill Clinton.
The vice president also defended the Trump administration’s record on border security, tax cuts and what he described as traditional values.
During the speech, Vance was speaking about what he called “birthright” American values when a protester interrupted him while holding a Mexican flag. Vance told the heckler to leave the US and offered to buy him a ticket to Mexico.
“If you love Mexico so much, get your a** over there. I’ll buy you the plane ticket,” Vance said.
