“Vice President JD Vance looked very much like a presidential candidate-in-waiting at the Republican convention this week. He delivered a prime-time address, met with delegates from battleground states and headlined a high-dollar fundraiser with GOP donors,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Vance’s Thursday night speech fired up the crowd, as he laid out his vision for the America he wants his children to grow up in while painting Democrats as extreme. During the speech, audience members said the quiet part out loud, shouting ’48!’ Donald Trump is the 47th U.S. president, and the next one will be the 48th.”

Washington Post: “Thursday night, Vance is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at the convention, after Trump praised him and generated applause for Vance the evening before. It’s the latest sign that Trump is quietly giving his nod for Vance to be the party’s heir-apparent, even as the president has not made an explicit endorsement.”

Said Trump: “You know, I watch him, last week, and he was standing there with like 20 guys behind him, all central casting, all look like they just got out of the greatest law schools. And I said, it looks like Eliot Ness. It’s Eliot Ness in the old days.”

“Sen. Ted Cruz gave a red-meat speech at the Republican convention on Thursday in which he accused the Democratic Party of succumbing to ‘communists and Islamists’ who hate Christians, Jews, capitalism and America,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“It carried on a theme that speakers have echoed over the two days of the Dallas event, in which Republicans are looking to paint Democratic candidates as extreme ahead of a tough midterm fight for control of Congress.”

A new Cygnal poll finds Democrats leading Republicans on the generic congressional ballot, 51% to 42%.

“More reinforcements that Republicans have eagerly anticipated from President Donald Trump’s war chest arrived Thursday with additional spending in House and Senate races, bringing the total so far to $57 million,” the Washington Post reports.