Vice President JD Vance faced backlash Sunday night after dining at Michelin-starred Soichi Sushi in San Diego, California, while Texas reels from catastrophic flash floods that have claimed more than 100 lives.
According to viral footage posted to social media, protesters gathered outside the restaurant and heckled Vance’s Secret Service convoy as it pulled away. The demonstrators criticized the vice president for enjoying a luxury dinner during an ongoing national crisis.
“Hope your Michelin-starred sushi was worth it with 82 people dead in Texas! Thanks for cutting the National Weather Service,” one protester shouted.
Another yelled, “Get the hell out of San Diego, a****!**”
The criticism came as search and rescue operations in flood-ravaged Central Texas entered their fifth day, with crews continuing to look for survivors amid ongoing rain threats. Among the hardest-hit locations was Camp Mystic, an all-girls Christian summer camp in the Texas Hill Country, where officials confirmed that 27 campers and counselors were killed, with several others still missing.
Online, the backlash continued. One social media user commented, “Oh no, a Republican VP was booed in a liberal city. Shocking.” Another quipped, “Guess San Diego wasn’t feeling the Vance vibe.”
Others accused the protest of being staged or exaggerated, with one writing, “Seems totally 100% organic.”
The floods were triggered by intense early-morning rains north of San Antonio on Friday, which caused the Guadalupe River to rise over 26 feet in just 45 minutes, engulfing homes, camps, and entire communities.
At least 19 deaths have been confirmed across Travis, Burnet, Kendall, Tom Green, and Williamson counties, with dozens more missing.
Vance’s dinner outing has sparked renewed scrutiny of the federal response to the disaster, as well as the administration’s recent budget cuts to weather and emergency preparedness agencies.
