We’re still months away from the midterm elections, but it’s never too early to start peeking ahead to the 2028 presidential contest. President Donald Trump added more speculation to the race this week when reports surfaced that he recently told donors in a private Oval Office meeting, “At the end of the day, we need to elect JD,” in reference to Vice President JD Vance, who is considered the favorite to be the GOP nominee in ’28. A straw poll earlier this year had Vance leading, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a solid second place.
Other polls have shown Vance and Rubio are the leading GOP candidates for ’28, with the two repeatedly downplaying any budding rivalry. Even President Trump said a Vance-Rubio ticket would be “unstoppable” but didn’t specify who should be at the top of the ticket.
Regardless of who ends up as the GOP nominee, Republicans feel like they are in a great position. “I personally like Marco Rubio,” says Melinda Preston, GOP strategist and Denton County Republican Party Chair. “I think he’s done a fantastic job, I love the way he fights back…I do like JD Vance as well. Then you’ve got (Florida Governor) Ron DeSantis, and people are even talking about Donald Trump Jr.”
“There are a lot of names going around, so it’s going to be fun to watch what happens.”
Whether the GOP field is narrow or crowded, the likely biggest factor in who ends up on top in ’28 will be the president himself. And despite what Trump may have said behind closed doors, he’s probably not going to make any public endorsement for quite some time. After all, the president still has two years left in office and typically likes to build drama and anticipation for big announcements like that. “Look at what he did with Paxton and Cornyn, how he drew that out as long as he possibly could,” says Preston. “I don’t think he’s going to show anyone his cards immediately, because then the focus becomes on that candidate. And really we need to be focused on his presidency right now.”