Vance Tells Michigan Voters 'It's Gonna Take More Than 18 Months' to Fix the Economy

Vice President JD Vance told Michigan voters on Saturday that fixing the American economy will take longer than the Trump administration has been in office, acknowledging in an hour-long CBS News town hall that gas prices are "too high right now" and that voters are frustrated with the cost of living less than three weeks before the midterm elections.

The event, titled "Things That Matter," was hosted by "CBS Evening News" anchor Tony Dokoupil and aired Saturday evening. Vance took questions from voters in Michigan, a swing state that helped carry him and President Trump to victory in 2024 and that is hosting a tight Senate race between Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed that could help decide control of the chamber.

Sandy Johnson, who owns a family entertainment center, told Vance her business is "barely making ends meet." Vance blamed a "bipartisan, multi-generational failure to under-invest in American workers" and the shipping of good jobs overseas. "Just as this country wasn't broken in one presidential term, it's gonna take more than 18 months to fix things and turn them around," he said. CBS noted that unemployment has stayed low since Trump returned to office, but inflation has remained stubbornly above the Federal Reserve's 2% target and manufacturing job counts have stayed roughly flat. Vance later said the administration is "turning the ship around."

Keshon Wheatley, a Detroit barber who voted for Trump in 2020 and 2024, said high gas prices have pushed him toward El-Sayed. Vance pointed to Iran's attacks on oil tankers and the fight over the Strait of Hormuz. "When this conflict is over, we are going to see gas prices come down," he said. Pressed on why the United States hasn't decisively won a war that began in late February, he answered that "in some ways we have won decisively," but that "the enemy gets a vote here." He said the administration wants a "final firm commitment" from Iran that it will not rebuild its nuclear program.

The human cost of the war came up directly. Joey Amor, whose wife, Master Sgt. Nicole Amor, was among six Army Reserve soldiers killed in an Iranian strike on a site in Kuwait in the war's early hours, said "there were a lot of mistakes and a lot of fundamental failures" behind her death. Twenty-one U.S. service members have been killed in the conflict. Vance said he didn't doubt there were failures, promised to "take every single failure extremely seriously," and said that where troops were located was "a huge mistake" that has since been changed.

On immigration, Sister Nancy Sylvester, a Catholic nun, asked how Vance, a fellow Catholic, justifies the tactics of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Vance said most agents are "patriots," but that some "really screw up" and that the government has a responsibility to investigate. Asked about his past comments likening some H-1B visa holders to "foreign indentured servants," he said, "To the extent that my rhetoric has been imperfect here, that's on me."

Dokoupil also raised polling showing voters worry about corruption. Vance said "D.C. is a corrupt town" but that he has seen no evidence Trump takes part in it, and added that anyone "selling access to the White House" should "suffer consequences." He said he would "follow the law" if a Democratic Congress subpoenaed the administration, and that data centers must be "good community citizens" that do not raise residential utility bills.

Asked whether he will seek the presidency in 2028, when he is widely seen as an early Republican frontrunner, Vance said, "Of course there's a chance" he won't. "I'm a procrastinator. I hate thinking about it," he said, adding that he and his wife, Usha, have four young children.