Hungary votes April 12, and for the first time in years Orbán’s Fidesz party is trailing in polls. The center-right opposition Tisza party, led by Péter Magyar, has pulled ahead in several surveys, making this the toughest electoral test Orbán has faced since consolidating power.

JD Vance is in Budapest today for meetings with Orbán — a visit timed conspicuously close to the election and widely read as a signal of continued U.S. support for Orbán’s government. The Trump administration has maintained warm relations with Orbán throughout his tenure, treating his nationalist model as philosophically compatible with their own direction.