Thousands of people crowded into Lakeland Linder Airport Thursday to hear Vice President J.D. Vance rally the Republican faithful. The raucous event had a theme of getting voters to the polls in November.
Republican candidate for governor Byron Donalds, U.S. Senator Ashley Moody and several other candidates bashed their Democratic opponents. Their speeches were light on specific issues.
J.D. Vance attacked Democratic Senate Candidate Angie Nixon as a socialist and David Jolly, the candidate for governor, as out of touch.
He also exhorted the crowd to vote.
"This November 3rd, I want you to send a message, send a message to the media, send a message to the Democrats," Vance told the audience inside an airport hangar. "Send a message to the far left radicals who would take your state over. America belongs to those who love it, not to hate it. It belongs to you. Get out there and vote and make sure it stays that way."
Vance and most of the other candidates saved their best shots for Democrats Jolly and Nixon.
"When Angie Nixon calls herself a socialist, I think the right thing to say is get the hell out of here," he said. "You don't belong in America."
"The thing about David Jolly is he'll say anything to stay relevant," Vance said. "He flips and flops in the wind."
Most of the crowd were white and skewed older. One, Warren Wright of Lakeland, left the rally alongside his wife.
"Sometimes we forget to be proud of our state. They made me proud of my state today."Warren Wright of Lakeland
"Sometimes we forget to be proud of our state. They made me proud of my state today," the retiree said. "I'm encouraged. I'm encouraged about the election in November, and yes, and I hope everybody turns out and votes."
When asked if the lack of any discussion by the candidates on topics such as inflation, the cost of gasoline and the war in Iran — he thought the topics the candidates touched upon were relevant to most people,
"Nobody is satisfied right now," Wright said. "I've made a point to point out to my friends and in Facebook that things have been worse. I lived through Joe Biden. That economy was worse for me than this one is. Yet people seem to forget."
Wright was also asked if the war in Iran — which was not discussed by any of the candidates — was relevant to him.
"This is a hard time, but President Trump can blame the disabling of the world's leading state sponsor of terrorists and terrorism for the prices being the way they are," he said. "When the Democrats were in office, they were sending billions of dollars to Iran. I would pay $4 a gallon all the time for a neutral Iran."
But not everyone — including several young people leaving the rally — was enamored of the message.
Twenty-year-old Sophia Montes from Davenport in Polk County said she doesn't like to feel like she has to fact-check everything she hears. And she said she didn't hear about concerns young people like her have.
"I don't feel like I'm being heard now."Sophia Montes of Davenport
"I would like them to address cost of living," she said after the rally. "I want them to address the demographics that they're targeting in their messaging and, you know, understand some nuance for once. I think that's what a lot of the American people want to hear. They want to feel heard across the board. I don't feel like I'm being heard now."
Lillian Hayes from Charlotte, N.C., goes to school at Florida Southern College in Lakeland. She also said the candidates barely touched upon the topics she's interested in.
"They talked about inflation once," she said. "I definitely feel like you can see that, like with gas prices and things of that nature. And I feel like we definitely hope that would go down, also because in their campaign they talked about how inflation would go down, gas prices would go down."
"...they talked about how important it is to minister to young people, but they didn't talk about as much the issues that we're facing."Lillian Hayes, a student at Florida Southern College in Lakeland
"We wouldn't have a war. We kind of have all those things occurring right now. So I feel like that would have been nice for them to touch on," she said, "because they talked about how important it is to minister to young people, but they didn't talk about as much the issues that we're facing."
Nearby, Kairi Butts of Orlando, a political science student, said he also wished the candidates talked more about bread-and-butter issues affecting most people.
"There's a really noticeable lack of talking points besides just slandering the opposition," he said, "and of course that's an issue with both parties now."
