The Trump administration is beginning to focus aggressively on the coming midterm elections amid talk around the nation’s capital and beyond about who will be President Donald Trump’s choice to succeed him as leader of the MAGA movement in 2028 and beyond.
Several reports this week including one from the Washington Post, citing ‘unnamed sources,’ noted that Vice President JD Vance “has been aggressively fundraising for the party in the midterms, building his connections with top donors.” But increasingly, Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s name is coming up more often than the veep as the better choice to lead the GOP in the post-Trump era.
In particular, Rubio has been riding high following his Wednesday press conference, where he filled in for press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who is on a brief leave for the time being after giving birth to her second child this week. At one point, he was asked by a reporter for a Christian broadcaster to give his hopeful vision for the country.
He said his “hope for America is what it’s always been. I think it’s the hope I hope we all share. We want it to continue to be the place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, where you’re not limited by the circumstances of your birth, by the color of your skin, by your ethnicity, but frankly, it’s a place where you are able to overcome challenges and achieve your full potential.”
“I think that should be the goal of every country in the world, frankly, but I think in the U.S. – we’re not perfect. Our history is not one of perfection, but it’s still better than anybody else’s history,” Rubio said. “And ours is a story of perpetual improvement. Each generation has left the next generation of Americans freer, more prosperous, safer, and that is our goal as well.”
The devout Catholic added: “But it is a unique and exceptional country and, as we come upon this 250-year anniversary, I think we have a lot to learn and be proud of in our history. It is one of perpetual and continuous improvement, where each generation has done its part to bring us closer to fulfilling the vision that the founders of this country had upon its founding.”
The clip immediately went viral on social media, fueling more speculation that Rubio was advancing as the more logical choice for the 2028 GOP nomination rather than Vance.
“Are we going to pretend like that’s not a presidential candidate?” asked Josh Holmes, a GOP strategist and co-host of the conservative “Ruthless” podcast, after playing the clip of Rubio. “It’s kind of hard to ignore, at some point, that this guy is becoming a thing, that he’s larger than maybe even this administration had conceived of.”
The vice president will be “very hard to beat,” while there’s a strong case to be made for his candidacy, co-host John Ashbrook replied, adding: “But the reality is there’s a race on.”
As for Trump, he has refrained from openly endorsing anyone as a successor, with some speculating to the Post that is because he prefers to keep things close to his vest so the attention remains on him. He has openly praised Vance and Rubio at various times.
Others have noted subtle changes regarding messaging. Hunter Schwarz, a political commentator and creator of the Yello and Whig newsletters, wrote this week: “Since President Donald Trump named then-Senator JD Vance of Ohio his running mate in July 2024, his campaign logo has included both of their last names placed within a rectangular frame.
“In fundraising emails sent to the president’s mailing list last month, though, a different version of the logo included just one name: Trump,” he noted further.
For his part, Vance has said he is waiting until the birth of his fourth child in July to make a decision on 2028, the Post noted.