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Hungary’s foreign minister said U.S. Vice President JD Vance plans to visit Hungary days before Prime Minister Viktor Orbán faces what he called his toughest election challenge in more than a decade, with the vote scheduled for April 12. Péter Szijjártó said the planned visit is connected to what he described as the “very intensive Hungarian–American intergovernmental relationship,” without specifying a date.
Szijjártó made the remarks on a podcast that aired on Friday. He did not lay out when Vance might arrive, and Vance’s office has not confirmed the trip.
Orbán, who has led Hungary since 2010, is aiming for a fifth consecutive election victory. The nationalist leader’s next election bid is being tested by the center-right Tisza and its leader, Péter Magyar, who has promised to restore democratic institutions that Magyar said have eroded under Orbán.
Magyar’s campaign has challenged what had appeared to be a stable grip on power by Orbán’s ruling circle, including by positioning the race as a choice about Hungary’s direction and partnerships. Magyar has said he would steer the country back toward its Western allies, framing the contest against the pro-Russian populist influence he links to Orbán.
The diplomatic backdrop includes U.S. engagement in the run-up to the vote. The planned Vance visit would follow Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s trip to Budapest last month, where Rubio strongly endorsed Orbán’s candidacy.
Orbán is also described as one of former President Donald Trump’s most vocal supporters in the European Union. The report said Orbán has actively courted Trump’s favor leading up to the April election, and Orbán earlier expressed hopes that Trump would make his own trip to Hungary before the vote.