As the United States approaches the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, public officials across both parties have been framing the date as a solemn commemoration. That context sharpened attention on Vice President JD Vance after remarks he made August 31 in Sterling Heights, Michigan, during a campaign stop tied to the state’s closely watched U.S. Senate race. The reaction centered on a single word in a speech that otherwise focused on terrorism, antisemitism and Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.
Vance’s remark at the Sterling Heights rally
Vance made the comment during a MAGA Inc. event in Sterling Heights on August 31, according to the full transcript published by Factbase and pool reports archived by The American Presidency Project. In the speech, he criticized El-Sayed over appearances with streamer Hasan Piker, who The Associated Press previously reported has a history of saying America “deserved 9/11.” Vance said, “We’re about to celebrate those heroes and commemorate those that we lost,” referring to first responders and victims of the attacks.
That phrasing drew immediate scrutiny because the anniversary itself is marked as a day of remembrance, not celebration. The White House had already said, according to The Associated Press on August 28, that Vance is scheduled to attend the New York observance while President Donald Trump plans to mark the anniversary at the Pentagon. AP also noted that this year marks 25 years since the attacks killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
In the same Michigan speech, Vance repeatedly tied El-Sayed to Temple Israel, the West Bloomfield Township synagogue attacked in March, and to Piker’s past remarks. Pool reports said Vance met backstage with the synagogue’s rabbi and security guards before taking the stage. The transcript shows he described the Temple Israel attack as a moment that “could have been so much worse,” then shifted to the 9/11 line that prompted the backlash.
The controversy has a direct Michigan dimension because Vance made the remark in Macomb County while campaigning in one of the country’s most competitive Senate contests. AP reported in late August that divisions around El-Sayed had already been intensifying inside Michigan Democratic politics, particularly after criticism of his March statement following the Temple Israel attack and his campaign appearances with Piker. That meant Vance’s speech was already aimed at an audience primed for arguments about terrorism, antisemitism and political judgment.
What is confirmed is that the remark was delivered publicly in Sterling Heights and preserved in transcript form. What is not yet known is whether Vance or his office plans any formal clarification beyond the surrounding context of the speech, which appears to distinguish between honoring heroes and commemorating victims. As of the available reporting, no official correction had been widely released.
The timing also matters locally. Michigan has large Arab American and Jewish communities, and the El-Sayed-Piker controversy has been closely followed across the state. Vance’s wording therefore did not land in isolation; it arrived in the middle of an already heated debate over rhetoric, identity and how candidates respond to politically sensitive acts of violence.
The larger reason this episode gained traction is that public language around September 11 is unusually sensitive ahead of a milestone anniversary. AP’s August 28 report said the administration had already mapped out separate observances in New York, at the Pentagon and in Shanksville, underscoring that the day is being treated as a national memorial occasion. In that setting, even a brief verbal misstep can become a national story.
There is also a campaign context. Vance’s Michigan appearance was part of a Republican push in battleground states before the November midterms, and AP reported September 1 that the event was financed by MAGA Inc. rather than the official campaign. That made the speech both a governing moment, because Vance is vice president, and a campaign moment, because he was speaking as a surrogate in a partisan contest.
For readers and residents, the practical takeaway is straightforward: the official 9/11 events are still scheduled to proceed as announced, with Vance expected at the New York ceremony and Trump at the Pentagon, according to AP. The remark has added another flashpoint to Michigan’s Senate race, but it has not changed the federal plans for the anniversary observances. As of September 2, the verified record shows the backlash stems from Vance’s August 31 wording at the Sterling Heights rally, not from any announced change in the commemorative events themselves.