Ohio Sen. JD Vance made an emotional plea to firefighters Thursday to win their vote for the GOP ticket this November.

Citing a personal story from when he was 12 and called 911 for his drug-addicted mother, Vance praised the firefighters, EMTs and police who came to his house in rural Ohio and credited them with saving her life.

“From the sad and terrified 12-year-old to a 40-year-old who’s now asking to be your vice president, you do make a difference,” Vance said. “You are giving people an opportunity at a second chance even if you don’t see them take that opportunity every single time.”

He then pivoted to Vice President Kamala Harris, charging that her “open-border policy” was overwhelming firefighters who are often the ones to respond to drug overdoses resulting from illegal fentanyl smuggled through the Mexican border.

“With President Trump at the helm, our border was secure and drug trafficking was down, and under the open-border policies of this administration, America has experienced a massive increase and a massive influx of illegal aliens and deadly drugs,” he said.

“You are so often the first to respond when someone is suffering an overdose,” Vance said, adding that they not only revive people who took fentanyl but put out fires started by drug addicts.

During a 20-minute speech that drew cheers for his praise of firefighters and boos for his claim that the Trump-Vance ticket is "the most pro-American worker ticket in history," Vance’s speech at the International Association of Fire Fighters convention in Boston comes one day after Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz also spoke to the group. 

Vance took the stage to cheers and boos alike, leading him to respond: "sounds like we've got some fans and some haters, that's okay."

The IAFF has yet to endorse a candidate in the 2024 election but endorsed President Biden in 2019. Vance thanked the union for inviting both sides to take the stage at their convention and present their case and announced that the Trump-Vance ticket had won the New York City Fire Marshals Benevolent Association endorsement Thursday. 

“For decades unions have given support to Democratic candidates without giving Republicans much consideration, and I’m not here to judge you or to blame you or to criticize you,” Vance said. “I am here to tell you that it’s a different world now.”

Democrats, he said, pretend to be the friend of working men and women, while “the Republican Party is the party of the American worker.” He criticized the Democratic National Convention for showcasing celebrities and "champagne socialists" and praised the Republican National Convention for highlighting hard-working Americans.

After leading a moment of silence to honor 644 fire fighters who died in the line of duty, Vance broke the quiet by saying Trump cares for working people and has been fighting for them his entire life in public service.

Vance connected his own skepticism of Trump in 2016 with union skepticism of the GOP candidate. Dozens of worker unions in the 2024 election cycle have endorsed the Democratic Harris-Walz ticket.

“I didn’t fully believe in the promises Trump made. I didn’t believe in the promises that any politician made, and you shouldn’t either, but I didn’t change my mind because of Donald Trump’s promises,” Vance said. “I changed my mind because he did a good job for the American people.”

Vance ended his speech by listing what Trump had done for firefighters while president: signing $100 million in grants to equip and train emergency personnel and signing legislation to reduce wildfire risk on millions of acres of public land.

Vance touted his own record in the Senate, voting in favor of the Fire Grants and Safety Act to reauthorize funding programs for fire fighter training, staffing and equipment.

“President Trump and I want exactly what you want: more jobs, rising wages, a secure border, safer streets and an affordable country where every child and every family can achieve their dreams,” he said. “Whether you support us or not, whether you ultimately endorse us or not, President Trump and I believe in our fire fighters. We believe in our first responders, and we will never stop fighting for you.”