Who Was Huey Long, The Depression-Era Populist Democrat Vance Just Quoted?

August 22, 2026 10:03 AM ET Vice President JD Vance reached back nearly a century for a slogan Friday, borrowing from one of Louisiana’s most combustible politicians to make his case on crime.Speaking at the Cleveland-Cliffs Middletown Works steel plant in his Ohio hometown, Vance told the crowd about a figure he suspected most of them had never heard of, according to a video of the event. “His name was Huey Long, and he once said, ‘every man a king’ was the goal of his political program. But no man is a king if their castle is under siege by criminals. No man is a king if they can’t take their family out to dinner without being mugged or having their car jacked,” Vance said in the remarks. (RELATED: JD Vance Roasts Neocon Pundit: ‘Obvious The Man Has Never Missed A Burrito’)JD Vance on Hu