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Vice President J.D. Vance on Tuesday appealed to Hungarians to support Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in the country’s April 12 elections.

“We must re-elect Viktor Orbán as Prime Minister of Hungary,” Vance told supporters gathered at Budapest’s MTK Sports Park.

Mr. Vance and Mr. Orbán met on Tuesday before holding a press conference in Budapest. Orbán also spoke at the rally.

After taking the stage, the US vice president called President Donald Trump and told the audience that Trump was “a big fan of Victor” and “will be with him forever.” Mr. Vance criticized the European Union, as he did in Tuesday’s press conference with Mr. Orban.

“We want people to make decisions about their future without being pressured or told what to do by outside forces. I’m not saying exactly who to vote for, but what I’m saying is, the bureaucrats in Brussels, you shouldn’t listen to them,” Vance said. “Listen to the voice of your heart, the voice of your soul and the sovereignty of the Hungarian people.”

In his speech, Mr. Vance said that “there is a small group of extremists in the Western world” who, among other things, “sentence children to mutilation and sterilization in the name of gender care.” Vance also criticized “the proliferation of far-left ideology in university circles, the media and entertainment industry, and among bureaucrats on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Vice President J.D. Vance speaks at MTK Sports Park in Budapest, Hungary, April 7, 2026.

Mr. Orbán has been in power since 2010, but he and his Fidesz-KDNP coalition have faced widespread criticism over anti-LGBTQ crackdowns.

A Hungarian activist previously spoken to by the Washington Blade said it is “impossible to legally change your gender in Hungary” because of a 2020 law that “bans legal gender recognition for transgender and intersex people.” That same year, Hungarian parliamentarians effectively banned adoption by same-sex couples and defined marriage in the country’s constitution as between a man and a woman.

In 2022, the European Commission took EU member Hungary to court over the country’s anti-LGBTQ propaganda laws.

In March 2025, Hungarian parliamentarians passed a bill banning Pride events and allowing authorities to use facial recognition technology to identify participants. Lawmakers subsequently amended Hungary’s constitution to ban public LGBTQ events.

Last June, more than 100,000 people defied the ban and took part in Budapest’s annual Pride parade.

Opinion polls show Prime Minister Orbán trailing Péter Magyar and his centre-right Tisza party ahead of the April 12 general election. Vance told Orbán’s supporters at a rally on Tuesday that he and President Trump “want us to make decisions about our future without being pressured by outside forces or being told what to do.”

“I’m not saying exactly who you should vote for, but what I’m saying is that you shouldn’t listen to those people, the bureaucrats in Brussels,” Vance said. “Listen to the voice of your heart, the voice of your soul and the sovereignty of the Hungarian people.”

“Unlike some of the leadership in Brussels, I am not threatening you or saying I will withhold funds to which you are legally entitled,” he added. “You decide about Hungary’s future.”

The Magyar government appeared to dismiss Vance’s comments on Tuesday.

“No foreign country should interfere in Hungarian elections. This is our country. Hungarian history is not written in Washington, Moscow or Brussels, but in the streets and squares of Hungary,” Magyar said in a speech. X account.

A spokesperson for the Hungarian LGBTQ rights group Hattel Association told the Blade that neither the Magyars nor the party had contacted the group.

A spokesperson said the group was not “campaigning directly on behalf of itself or any other political party”. However, the Hatter Association encourages LGBTQ Hungarians to vote.

“Ahead of Election Day, we encourage everyone on our social media channels to get out and vote, because this is the only way we can challenge a system that has worked against the LGBTQI community for so long,” the spokesperson said.