President Trump reportedly told donors he wants Vice President Vance representing Republicans in the 2028 election, despite refraining from committing to a preferred candidate in public.
Trump told donors in the Oval Office roughly two weeks ago that, “At the end of the day, we need to elect JD,” according to The Washington Post.
Other sources told the Post they are not convinced Trump has settled on Vance and that his mind could still be changed.
The Hill has reached out to the White House and Vance’s office for comment.
Trump has repeatedly egged on the competition between Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the 2028 Republican nomination.
Vance even joked about Trump’s comments, likening the competition to the president’s former reality show, “The Apprentice.”
“I just don’t think it sounds like the president of the United States to have a televised competition for who would succeed him as his apprentice,” Vance said at a press conference in May, spurring some laughs. “I just think that’s not at all what you would expect the president to do.”
Vance usually demurs when asked about his potential 2028 run, instead saying he enjoys the work he does as vice president, while also praising Rubio.
Trump has also said he thinks Vance and Rubio could be a “dream team” on the ballot in 2028.
“By the way, I do believe that’s a dream team. But these are minor details. That does not mean you have my endorsement under any circumstance. But you know … I think it sounds like presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate,” he said at an event in May.
Vance told “CBS Sunday Morning” in June that he would talk about his next moves with his wife, Usha Vance, after the 2026 midterms.
“The way I make decisions is, I try not to make them until I absolutely must,” he said.
Trump often praises Rubio and has even said he may “go down as the best ever.”
“I have a prediction that Marco will go down — I mean this — as the greatest secretary of State in the history of the United States,” Trump said in October.
Rubio, for his part, has downplayed his presidential ambitions. He ran for the GOP nomination in 2016 against Trump and returned to the Senate after suspending his campaign.
However, he captured a strong majority of conservatives who participated in a 2028 GOP presidential straw poll last weekend, leading Vance by 36 points.
Trump has also been floating the question of succession to his allies and advisers. The Post reported that he quizzed staff about Rubio and Vance during a Marine One ride late last month.
He asked media mogul Rupert Murdoch about the two men last year during a private dinner, according to the book “Regime Change” by The New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan.
Murdoch said Vance “has the potential to be great” but called Rubio “brilliant.”
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