{"id":2450562,"date":"2025-06-22T17:35:01","date_gmt":"2025-06-22T21:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/meghan-mccain-predicts-hegseth-vance-and-rubio-top-2028-presidential-contenders-washington-examiner\/"},"modified":"2025-06-22T17:36:06","modified_gmt":"2025-06-22T21:36:06","slug":"meghan-mccain-predicts-hegseth-vance-and-rubio-top-2028-presidential-contenders-washington-examiner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/meghan-mccain-predicts-hegseth-vance-and-rubio-top-2028-presidential-contenders-washington-examiner\/","title":{"rendered":"Meghan McCain predicts Hegseth, Vance, and Rubio top 2028 presidential contenders &#8211; Washington Examiner"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fmeghan-mccain-predicts-hegseth-vance-and-rubio-top-2028-presidential-contenders-washington-examiner%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2450562&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Meghan McCain has recently expressed her views on potential frontrunners for the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >2028 presidential election<\/a>, stating that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Vice President JD Vance, and Secretary of state Marco Rubio are top contenders. McCain shared this prediction on social media following President Trump&#8217;s address regarding military actions against Iran. Despite Hegseth&#8217;s relatively limited <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/prageru-nikki-haley-explains-why-capitalism-wins\/\" title=\"PragerU: Nikki Haley Explains Why \u2018Capitalism Wins\u2019\">political experience<\/a> compared to Vance and Rubio, McCain emphasized their positions behind Trump during a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/four-senior-officials-close-to-nasa-moon-program-retire\/\" title=\"Four senior officials close to NASA moon program retire -\">critically important moment<\/a>. Reactions to her prediction were mixed on social media, with some agreeing about Vance and Rubio but questioning Hegseth&#8217;s viability as a candidate. Vance has downplayed rivalry with Rubio while signaling his commitment to his current role as vice president.The political landscape hints at possible Democratic challengers as well, including progressive voices like Rep. Ro Khanna.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-header-search-button-mob dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-button\"><i class=\"tdb-mobile-menu-icon td-icon-mobile\"><\/i><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search\" aria-labelledby=\"td-header-search-button\">\n<div class=\"tdb-drop-down-search-inner\">\n<form method=\"get\" class=\"tdb-search-form\" action=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/\"><\/form>\n<div class=\"tdb-aj-search\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/#\" role=\"button\" aria-label=\"Search\" class=\"tdb-head-search-btn dropdown-toggle\" data-toggle=\"dropdown\"><i class=\"tdb-search-icon td-icon-search\"><\/i><\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">Meghan McCain predicts Hegseth, Vance, and Rubio top 2028 presidential contenders<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div id=\"Brid_2153011\" class=\"tpd-featured-video bridtv\"><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/donald-trump\" title=\"\">President Donald Trump<\/a> is only about 150 days into his second term, but that isn&rsquo;t stopping some from speculating who could succeed him. <\/p>\n<p>Among those offering predictions is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/meghan-mccain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Meghan McCain<\/a>. She took to social media on Sunday to say that Defense Secretary <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/meghan-mccain\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Pete Hegseth<\/a>, Vice President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/jd-vance\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">JD Vance<\/a>, and Secretary of State <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/tag\/marco-rubio\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Marco Rubio<\/a> are all in prime position to win the White House in 2028.<\/p>\n<p>McCain shared her take by posting a video of the three men standing behind the president during his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3450010\/trump-address-white-house-us-bombs-iran-war\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">address to the nation<\/a> on Saturday, shortly after he revealed that the United States had struck three of Iran&rsquo;s nuclear sites.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommended-stories\">\n<h2>Recommended Stories<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3448821\/trump-special-prosecutor-investigate-2020-election-fraud\/\">Trump calls for special prosecutor to investigate 2020 election &#8216;fraud&#8217;<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3448553\/harris-campaign-requested-mark-cuban-vetting-papers-vice-president\/\">Mark Cuban says Harris campaign requested he submit vetting papers during 2024 VP search<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3433969\/iowa-losing-ground-national-democrats-dnc-yanks-seat\/\">Iowa losing ground with national Democrats after DNC yanks key panel seat<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"article-paywall\">\n<p>&ldquo;The three men standing behind Trump are all the top 3 contenders to be President next,&rdquo; she posted on X.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The three men standing behind Trump are all the top 3 contenders to be President next. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/cccem1mzpt\">https:\/\/t.co\/cccem1mzpt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Meghan McCain (@MeghanMcCain) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MeghanMcCain\/status\/1936755066272383308?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 22, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"http:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/cdn-cgi\/scripts\/5c5dd728\/cloudflare-static\/email-decode.min.js\"><\/script><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Among Hegseth, Vance, and Rubio, the defense secretary has the least political experience, only just entering his role in the Trump administration in January. Prior to this, Hegseth was commissioned as an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defense.gov\/About\/Biographies\/Biography\/article\/4040890\/hon-pete-hegseth\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">infantry officer in the U.S. National Guard in 2003<\/a>, and later <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/magazine-special-section\/3233947\/meet-pete-hegseth-veteran-culture-warrior-picked-lead-us-military\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">became known as a Fox News co-host<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>McCain&rsquo;s preview of a potential Hegseth run in 2028 was met with disagreement on X, with several users agreeing with her assessment on Vance and Rubio but not on the defense secretary.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Hegseth is a joke. The other two, yes they&rsquo;re legit candidates. I think Rubio has a better shot than Vance,&rdquo; one user said in response to McCain&rsquo;s post.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hegseth is a joke. The other two, yes they&rsquo;re legit candidates. I actually think Rubio has a better shot than Vance.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Andrew Abramson (@AbramsonFL) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AbramsonFL\/status\/1936766589401018394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 22, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;Vance\/Rubio would be an amazing ticket, As an ex-Dem, I&rsquo;d vote for that!&rdquo; another X user replied.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Vance\/Rubio would be an amazing ticket,  As an ex-Dem, I&rsquo;d vote for that!<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; EllyT (@EllyllTea) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EllyllTea\/status\/1936820319987052836?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 22, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&ldquo;Hegseth is not a contender to be president. But Vance and Rubio are currently the top contenders,&rdquo; a third user said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Hegseth is not a contender to be president.<\/p>\n<p>But Vance and Rubio are currently the top contenders.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Sarcasm_IS_Wit (@SarcasmISwit) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SarcasmISwit\/status\/1936837363772043700?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 22, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script> <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3450124\/read-trump-address-white-house-iran-bombing\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">READ IN FULL: TRUMP&rsquo;S ADDRESS TO THE NATION AFTER THE US MILITARY BOMBS IRAN<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Vance was asked last month about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/white-house\/3406046\/vance-need-american-made-goods-times-conflict\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">any possible ambitions he has for the Oval Office in 2028<\/a>, to which he said he sees himself doing &ldquo;a really good job for the next 1,100 days&rdquo; as vice president, and the public can &ldquo;figure it out from there.&rdquo; He also denied any rivalry between him and Rubio, saying that the state secretary is &ldquo;probably my best friend in the administration.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/campaigns\/presidential\/3400774\/vance-rubio-early-2028-gop-primary-favorites-trump-downplays-third-term\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">Trump also floated<\/a> Vance and Rubio as potential successors in a recent interview, but added it was &ldquo;too early&rdquo; to think about that.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I think we have a tremendous group of people. We talked about a number of them,&rdquo; Trump told NBC News&rsquo;s <em>Meet the Press<\/em> in May. &ldquo;You look at Marco, you look at JD Vance, who&rsquo;s fantastic &hellip; I could name 10, 15, 20 people right now, just sitting here.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>On the Democratic Party&rsquo;s side, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) previewed that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/news\/3432698\/ro-khanna-previews-game-plan-20-years-progressive-democrats\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\" title=\"\">his party will undergo a &ldquo;progressive takeover&rdquo; in the future<\/a>. The lawmaker also claimed that Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who has run twice in the Democratic Party&rsquo;s presidential primaries, would be president in 2028 if the Vermont lawmaker was &ldquo;10 years younger.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> <script>!function(){var g=window;g.googletag=g.googletag||{},g.googletag.cmd=g.googletag.cmd||[],g.googletag.cmd.push(function(){g.googletag.pubads().setTargeting(\"has-featured-video\",\"true\")})}();<\/script><script>var _bp=_bp||[];_bp.push({\"div\":\"Brid_2153011\",\"obj\":{\"id\":\"27789\",\"width\":\"1280\",\"height\":\"720\",\"stickyDirection\":\"below\",\"video\":\"2153011\"}});<\/script><script defer src=\"https:\/\/services.brid.tv\/player\/build\/brid.min.js\"><\/script><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meghan McCain names Hegseth, Vance, and Rubio as 2028 frontrunners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2632,"featured_media":2450563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Hegseth-and-McCain.webp","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[44527,39592,34347],"class_list":["post-2450562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-2028-presidential-race","tag-meghan-mccain","tag-political-predictions"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/Hegseth-and-McCain.webp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2632"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2450562"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2450566,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450562\/revisions\/2450566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2450563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2450562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2450562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2450562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}