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BUDAPEST, Hungary — <\/span>U.S. Vice President JD Vance arrived in Hungary on Tuesday in a bid to turn the tide of an election campaign where long-serving Prime Minister Viktor Orb\u00e1n<\/a>, a close ally of President Donald Trump, is trailing in the polls. <\/p>\n Vance’s two-day trip, where he is scheduled to hold an official visit with Orb\u00e1n and later appear at one of his campaign rallies, offered the clearest sign yet that the Trump administration is going all-in for an Orb\u00e1n victory when Hungarians go to the polls on Sunday. <\/p>\n Orb\u00e1n is running for his fifth-straight term as prime minister. He and his nationalist-populist Fidesz party are facing their toughest race in two decades<\/a> against a center-right challenger, the Tisza party led by P\u00e9ter Magyar<\/a>, that could bring an end to Orb\u00e1n’s 16 years in power. <\/p>\n Long accused by critics of taking over Hungary\u2019s institutions, clamping down on press freedom<\/a> and overseeing entrenched political corruption<\/a> \u2014 charges he denies \u2014 Orb\u00e1n has become an icon in the global far-right movement<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trump has repeatedly endorsed Orb\u00e1n\u2019s candidacy for reelection, and many in the Make America Great Again movement approve of the Hungarian leader’s opposition to immigration, curtailing of LGBTQ+ rights<\/a>, and capture of the media and academia. <\/p>\n But with most independent polls showing a double-digit deficit for Fidesz<\/a> among decided voters ahead of the April 12 vote, Orb\u00e1n has sought to boost his profile by appearing publicly with his international admirers.<\/p>\n Vance and his wife, Usha, were greeted at the Budapest airport on Tuesday by Hungary’s Foreign Minister P\u00e9ter Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3. The two men greeted one another warmly, and Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 presented Usha Vance with a bouquet of flowers. <\/p>\n Szijj\u00e1rt\u00f3 told state media from the airport that Vance is the first U.S. vice president to visit Hungary since 1991, and the highest-ranking U.S. official in the country since 2006.<\/p>\n Magyar, who has pledged to draw Hungary back toward its Western partners<\/a> and end its drift toward Moscow, gave a pointed critique of Vance\u2019s visit in social media posts on Tuesday. <\/p>\n \u201cNo foreign country may interfere in Hungarian elections. This is our country,\u201d Magyar wrote. \u201cHungarian history is not written in Washington, Moscow, or Brussels \u2014 it is written in Hungary\u2019s streets and squares.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI respectfully ask the U.S. Vice President who is coming to Hungary that if he is already campaigning for Viktor Orb\u00e1n, the Hungarian people should not pay the price,\u201d Magyar said. <\/p>\n Vance’s visit wasn’t the first sign of U.S. support for Orb\u00e1n. <\/p>\n Hungary, which has broken with most European Union countries by refusing to assist Ukraine with financial assistance or weapons to ward off Russia’s full-scale invasion<\/a>, has remained firmly committed to purchasing Russian energy<\/a> despite EU efforts to wean off such supplies. <\/p>\n In November, Hungary received an exemption from U.S. sanctions<\/a> on Russian oil and gas after a White House meeting between Orb\u00e1n and Trump. <\/p>\n In February, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited Budapest<\/a> where he enthusiastically praised Orb\u00e1n and the \u201cperson-to-person connection\u201d he\u2019d established with the president, telling Orb\u00e1n that Trump was \u201ddeeply committed to your success, because your success is our success.\u201d <\/p>\n Late last month, Orb\u00e1n hosted dozens of allies from around Europe and beyond at the Hungarian iteration of the Conservative Political Action Conference, and at a meeting of the far-right<\/a> Patriots for Europe party family, the third-largest group in the European Parliament. <\/p>\n Trump sent a video message to CPAC Hungary, saying Orb\u00e1n had his \u201ccomplete and total endorsement\u201d and was a \u201cfantastic guy.\u201d <\/p>\n The Trump administration’s embrace of Orb\u00e1n reflects its affinity for European far-right parties broadly, and the admiration, from Spain to France to Germany and the Netherlands, has been mutual. <\/p>\n Still, Trump\u2019s recent approach to foreign affairs has reverberated in Europe, with his actions over Greenland, Venezuela and Iran straining those relationships<\/a>. <\/p>\n Orb\u00e1n, however, has remained deferential, and has echoed Trump\u2019s false claims that he won the 2020 election. In comments to state radio just before Trump began his second term, Orb\u00e1n said Democrats \u201ctook the presidency away from Donald Trump through fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n Vance’s planned appearance at Orb\u00e1n’s election rally was an unusual step from a foreign leader, and a break with the practice of most politicians who avoid actively taking part in the political campaigns of other countries.<\/p>\n Orb\u00e1n himself has bristled at the slightest mention of the Hungarian election by other EU leaders, decrying any expressions of support for his opponent as a grave breach of Hungary’s sovereignty and meddling in the election. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n