Secretary of State Marco Rubio is privately telling confidants that JD Vance is the frontrunner for the 2028 Republican nomination and that he’d support the vice president if he chose to run, according to two people close to the administration.
Rubio’s private comments are a vivid example of how some Republicans are already playing out a post-Trump succession battle, less than one year into the president’s term.
President Donald Trump has repeatedly named Vance and Rubio as his two most likely successors, even suggesting last week that the pair should run on the same ticket. Both men have insisted they are good friends and there is no rivalry, even as speculation grows over who can inherit the MAGA mantle.
“No one expects Marco to resign from the Cabinet and start taking potshots at the sitting vice president,” said a second person familiar with the dynamic and granted anonymity to discuss the highly sensitive situation. “Beyond that, they’re friends.”
A third person close to the White House, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said the “expectation is JD as [nominee] and Rubio as VP.”
Vance is the leading favorite among those who voted for Trump in 2024, according to a new POLITICO Poll conducted Oct. 18-21. Thirty-five percent say he’s the person they’d most like to see run for president in 2028.
By contrast, just 2 percent named Rubio in response to the open-ended question — a format that tends to favor legislators with strong name recognition. Sixteen percent said they either don’t know who they’d like to see run in 2028 or nobody, while 28 percent said Trump.
