BUDAPEST: US Vice President JD Vance is traveling to Hungary’s capital Tuesday in a bid to turn the tide of an election campaign where long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a close ally of President Donald Trump, is trailing in the polls.
Vance’s two-day trip, where he is scheduled to hold an official visit with Orbán and later appear at one of his campaign rallies, was the clearest sign yet that the Trump administration was going all-in for an Orbán victory when Hungarians go to the polls on Sunday.
In power since 2010, Orbán is running for his fifth-straight term as prime minister. He and his nationalist-populist Fidesz party are facing their toughest race in two decades against a center-right challenger, the Tisza party led by Péter Magyar, that could bring an end to Orbán’s 16 years in power.
Long accused by critics of taking over Hungary’s institutions, clamping down on press freedom and overseeing entrenched political corruption — charges he denies — Orbán has become an icon in the global far-right movement.
Trump has repeatedly endorsed Orbán’s candidacy for reelection, and many in the Make America Great Again movement approve of the Hungarian leader’s opposition to immigration, curtailing of LGBTQ+ rights, and capture of the media and academia.
