Report: Rubio Views Vance as 2028 GOP Frontrunner and Plans to Support Him

While the Republican primaries to succeed President Donald Trump might seem like an eternity away, Vice President J.D. Vance has already secured at least one key supporter, according to a new report.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the former senator who challenged Trump for the GOP nod in 2016, has told confidants he would back Vance if the veep chooses to run, the Beltway news outlet Politico reported Friday.

“Marco has been very clear that JD is going to be the Republican nominee if he wants to be,” one source told Politico.

“He will do anything he can just to support the vice president in that effort.”

Trump himself has been clear that he views Vance and Rubio as his most likely successors.

“I’m not sure if anybody would run against those two,” Trump said, according to a Newsweek report from Oct. 27. “I think if they formed a group it would be unstoppable.”

At this still-early stage, Vance is the obvious frontrunner, if only by dint by being the constitutional heir to the president at the moment.

A weekly straw poll conducted by The Western Journal has shown Vance leading since the poll started in mid-September.

As of Tuesday, the poll found that Vance was favored by 47.7 percent of the roughly 11,900 votes recorded. Rubio, by contrast, was just under 10 percent.

Trump himself drew 14.6 percent of the votes, though the Constitution’s 22nd Amendment prohibits his being elected as president again.

As Politico noted, Trump’s personal presence is a formidable part of American politics. Tuesday’s off-year election results showed Democratic victories across the board, from the New York City mayoral race to governor’s races in New Jersey and Virginia to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s referendum on congressional redistricting in California.

The name “Trump” was not on any ballot. But Democratic demonization of the president and his party was surely a factor.

That’s also going to be a factor in next year’s midterms, which will determine much of the final two years of Trump’s presidency.

And that will be key to Republican jockeying in two years, when primary season kicks into gear.

“If you’re a Republican that wants to run in 2028 right now, you need to focus on keeping Republicans in power for 2026,” White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair told Politico’s Dash Burns on the outlet’s “The Conversation” podcast, in the wake of Tuesday’s results.

“I think the No. 1 thing everybody can do is focus on the team and helping their team and not focus on themselves,” Blair said.

Rubio and Vance aren’t the only potential Republican candidates, of course. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, for instance, who challenged Trump in the 2024 primary, is also a possibility. (He drew support from only 5.3 percent of respondents in The Western Journal straw poll.)

But at this point in the Trump presidency, the vice president and the secretary of state are the two strongest horses in any 2028 GOP race.

And considering both come from states that are key to any Electoral College victory — Vance is from Ohio, Rubio is from Florida — a Vance-Rubio ticket, at least at this early stage, could well be the most likely Republican offering to voters in 2028.

“No one expects Marco to resign from the Cabinet and start taking potshots at the sitting vice president,” another source told Politico. “Beyond that, they’re friends.”

Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. Advertise Today.