Vice President JD Vance had the perfect comeback after a disguised protester crashed his Ohio rally. The vice president turned a tense security moment into a punchline that had the crowd roaring.
JD Vance responds after Secret Service removes heckler from Ohio event
Vice President JD Vance faced a disruption at a Cincinnati rally on Wednesday after a protester disguised in a suit and red MAGA cap began heckling him, The Daily Beast reported. The man, standing several feet behind Vance, discarded his hat and shouted at the vice president shortly after he took the stage at the Sharonville Convention Center. Secret Service agents quickly removed the protester as the crowd chanted “USA! USA!”
Vance appeared unfazed and responded with a joke about the heckler’s appearance. “That guy, he was trying to pretend to be MAGA,” Vance told the crowd. He added that the protester revealed himself when he removed his hat. “It was very obvious that he has not washed his hair in about three months,” Vance said. He then quipped that people who neglect their hygiene “vote for Democrats, not for Republicans.”
Vance was in Ohio to campaign for Republican gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and GOP Senate candidate John Husted. Ramaswamy has faced bipartisan backlash over a controversial ad targeting his Democratic opponent, Amy Acton. Vance doubled down on the ad’s claims at the rally despite widespread criticism.
Some observers, including Fox News hosts, raised concerns about how close the protester got to the vice president. The incident followed a pattern of disruptions at Republican rallies ahead of the November 3 midterm elections. In Kansas this week, President Trump faced repeated interruptions while campaigning for Sen. Roger Marshall.
Vance encountered a similar disruption at a North Carolina rally earlier this week. A protester standing directly behind him shouted demands to release the Epstein files. At a separate Trump rally in Youngstown, Ohio, last week, at least two men physically attacked a female protester.
