Vance Arrived in Budapest Days Before the Election and Openly Backed Orban

U.S. Vice President JD Vance publicly endorsed Viktor Orban just days before Hungary’s pivotal parliamentary election, hailing him as a model of political leadership for Europe and accusing Brussels of interfering in the campaign.

Speaking alongside the Hungarian prime minister during his two-day visit to Budapest, Vance said that “the scale of interference from the Brussels bureaucracy has been truly disgraceful,” while offering no evidence to support the claim.

“I’m not going to tell Hungarians how they should vote,” he said on the eve of the election, scheduled for Sunday. “I would advise the bureaucrats in Brussels to do exactly the same.”

Vance’s visit underscores how much importance the U.S. administration has attached to an election in a country of roughly 10 million people—Washington is seeking to keep Orban, its ideological ally and one of the European Union’s most consistent internal challengers, in power despite most polls pointing to a real risk of defeat after 16 years in office.

Vance became the second senior U.S. official to visit Hungary ahead of the vote. In February, Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Budapest, where he also voiced support for Orban and said relations between the United States and Hungary were entering a “golden era.” Donald Trump has repeatedly backed the Hungarian leader in the past, calling him “a truly strong and powerful leader.”

In the final stretch of a tense campaign, Orban is trailing the opposition Tisza party in most independent polls. The party is led by Peter Magyar, a former government insider.

Such remarks are characteristic of Vance. At last year’s Munich Security Conference, he rebuked European leaders over their regulation of online space, accusing them of suppressing conservative voices and drifting away from the continent’s “fundamental values.”

The comments caught European officials off guard—the visit also included a meeting between Vance and the leader of Germany’s far-right, anti-immigration party.

“I would suggest that Hungarians ask themselves not who is for or against Europe and the United States, but who is acting in their interest, who is acting in the interest of the Hungarian people,” Vance said in Budapest. “In my experience, I have seen a man who fiercely defends Hungary’s interests. I am here to help him in this election campaign.”