Vice President JD Vance talks faith and politics in Orange County

More than 400 people gathered at the Nixon Presidential Library and Museum in Yorba Linda on Thursday to hear Vice President JD Vance speak on current issues and his personal journey with his faith, the subject of his new memoir.

Read more Fans give United States a cheerful sendoff to the World Cup knockout round

The Republican official’s talk turned political at times. Vance began the event by recounting a question posed weeks ago by a reporter, asking the difference between him and Gov. Gavin Newsom. Vance quipped: “People actually bought my book.”

Vance also reminisced on the 2024 election, telling the crowd he figured out in the moment that the vice presidential debate between him and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was a success because he saw his wife “with the biggest smile on her face,” while Walz’s wife looked like she had “just shown up at her dog’s funeral,” he said.

“If my wife is really happy and Gwen Walz is not so happy, things must have went pretty well,” Vance said.

Aside from some political jabs, Vance largely talked about his faith at the sold-out event on June 25, which came on the heels of his new memoir, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.” That faith journey, he said, largely hinged on his grandmother, Bonnie Blanton Vance.

“My grandmother was, in many ways, not a stereotypical grandma,” the vice president said, adding that while she was “nonconventional,” she was also someone who was “of very deep religious faith.”

“Looking back, I think one of the things that I realized about my own faith is that I was attached to Christianity via my grandmother. She was the anchor,” Vance said.

And when she died in 2005, Vance said, his faith went with her for a time.

“While it’s very important to have a parent, or a grandparent, or somebody who raises you with faith … I think if your only connection to faith is a loved one, rather than something deeper and broader, then your faith is always going to be at-risk like mine was when that person passes away,” he said.

Thursday’s event was the first time the Nixon Library hosted a sitting president or vice president since President Bill Clinton delivered a eulogy when Nixon died in 1994. Security to get into the library was tight, and multiple roads near the event were closed throughout the day.

In 2024, former President George W. Bush visited the library for an event and dinner to raise funds for the Nixon Foundation’s American Civics Campaign.

And former Vice President Mike Pence, who served during the first Trump administration, has visited the Nixon Library multiple times, including earlier this month to talk about his own new book, “What Conservatives Believe: Rediscovering the Conservative Conscience.”

Outside of the Nixon library, several protesters gathered during Vance’s appearance, some demonstrating against the Trump administration, and another group asking the White House to be more forceful against the Iranian regime.

The vice president, to those who paid at least $500 to attend Thursday’s event, noted he saw demonstrators outside the event, speaking Spanish and waving a Palestinian flag.

“By the way, the vice president can’t understand what you’re protesting about if you don’t speak the language of everyone else here,” he told the crowd, which drew laughter. “Note to protesters: If you want the vice president to hear what you’re protesting about, you have to use a language I actually understand.”

Fariba Skobin was one of the people demonstrating Thursday, part of a group protesting against U.S. officials negotiating with Iranian officials to put an end to the war.

“We are professing on President Trump and his vice president and his administration: Don’t deal with (the Iranian regime) at all,” said Skobin, who is originally from Iran.

“We are here to tell Mr. Trump and JD Vance that we want freedom in Iran,” she said, calling the news of negotiations beginning “unacceptable.”

“We don’t expect them to negotiate with the IRGC, with terrorists,” Skobin said, referring to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, a powerful force in the regime. “We want (the Trump administration) to stop negotiations and do something.”

Read more Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani leads All-Star voting after Phase I, guaranteed a spot in lineup

Demonstrators held signs that said “Help Us Free Iran” and “King Reza Pahlavi, Alternative for Iran.” Pahlavi, the former Crown Prince of the Pahlavi dynasty, is the son of Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, the last Shah of Iran.

Among them was Kourosh Salman, who said he wanted to compel Vance not to continue negotiations with the Iranian regime.

“We want peace in all the world, but we want a fight to the group that makes war in the world,” said Salman, who is also from Iran and now resides in Irvine.

“We are not a political football. We just want freedom for our people,” Salman said. “We are waiting to see what will happen in the end. I hope (the U.S.) helps the Iranian people to get their freedom.”

Vance was in Switzerland over the weekend to engage with Iranian officials as part of talks to end the war. On Thursday, he told those at the Nixon library that while negotiations aren’t over yet, the talks have been productive so far.

“Some of the criticism we’ve gotten, even from our friends, is they’re constantly trying to change the mission that Donald Trump set us up to achieve,” Vance said.

“I think the reason why the president has been so successful is because he refuses to give in to that impulse,” Vance said. “He says, ‘We came what we set out to do, we created incredible diplomatic, economic and military leverage,’ let’s use that leverage to go and accomplish an even bigger win for the American people.’

“That’s what he’s asked us to do; it’s not over yet, but so far so good,” he said.

General admission tickets went on sale the week prior for $500 each, while a two-ticket “preferred seating” package was sold for $2,500, said Chris Barber, director of marketing and communications for the Nixon Foundation. Ticket sales were tax-deductible and “support the educational mission of the Richard Nixon Foundation,” according to a news release.

Vicki Olsen, who attended the talk with her husband, brother and sister-in-law, said they couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see the vice president.

“I can’t believe I’m going to be able to meet with, or just see, the vice president of the United States,” Olsen said. “I like (Vance’s) faith. I like his honesty, I like his ability to talk on his feet.”

And Ron Moskowitz, attending with his wife and his son, said they came out because “this is part of history.”

“It’s very rare where you can actually witness people who are making an amazing impact on the world and just our country. Our vice president is travelling and representing us internationally, and trying to bring peace to the world and help everybody out,” said Moskowitz of Yorba Linda.

“To be able to be in the same room with him, to understand what his personal beliefs are, and to get some insight on current events, both nationally and internationally, is an honor.”

His family, Moskowitz said, was particularly interested in hearing about Vance’s faith journey.

“We are Jewish, so we believe our brothers and sisters in the Catholic faith and the Christian faiths are very close to us, and are our beliefs and our morals. We hope that together united, we can help better shape this world in that vision,” he said.

Vance was also in Orange County almost one year ago. Then, he spent some time with his family on a trip to Disneyland.

Read more DEA asks watchdog to investigate claims that agents permitted fentanyl to hit the streets