Every Republican Who Could Run for President in 2028

The 2028 presidential election is about to begin. The Republican primary is a lot less fluid than the Democratic race, but here's every potential Republican candidate you need to be paying attention to. As the sitting number two, JD Vance has staked out a few really important positions. Vance has deep connections to AI and the tech world. That could be a major plus as he looks to build up a fundraising base. With Elon Musk in his corner, that gives him an advantage that no other potential candidate can match. It's also potentially a bit of a liability as Democrats and potentially other Republicans are going to try to cast him as some kind of pawn of big tech. And he's quite close to Peter Thiel and Elon Musk. You almost say he's a creation of those guys. Remember, he's new to politics. He only first ran for Senate in 2022, and then a year and a half later, he was picked to be Trump's running mate. He has spent the last two years as the Republican National Committee Finance Chair. So that's allowed him to expand out his network of donors. But running as a member of the Trump administration is a double-edged sword. In the Republican primary, it probably helps you. Donald Trump still is the most powerful figure in the Republican Party, and Vance has had himself that whoever Trump endorses is going to be the Republican nominee. If Donald Trump said, "I think you're the best person. I'm going to endorse you today. Would you want it?". Then the primary is over, of course. Correct. I think whoever the president endorses will ultimately win the Republican primary. Trump is heading into the midterm elections with his approval rating at around 35%. In a general election, Vance is going to have to figure out how to navigate that. He's going to have to find ways to highlight the things that the administration has done that are popular, but he also might have to distance himself from decisions like the Iran War. Publicly, Vance has been supportive. Where we are right now is a good place for the United States of America. And again, if we transform the Middle East - What else. You got? This is fundamentally worth it. Okay. Behind the scenes though, Vance is more of a military isolationist. He's not someone who likes foreign interventions. I don't want America to be the policeman of the world. We can't be the policemen of Europe, the policeman of the Middle East. I want more of these allies to behave like allies, to take more ownership over their own security and to make their own decisions. Vance has spent the last year and a half deflecting if he'll run in 2028. Is there a chance you don't run for president in 2028? Of course there's a chance. But sometime after the midterms, he's going to have to make a decision and indicate what way he's thinking. The other big figure that we need to keep an eye on is Secretary of State Marco Rubio. There are a lot of people in the Republican Party who would prefer Rubio to Vance, and many of those people would like the GOP to go back to what it was before Trump rode down the golden escalator. Billionaire investor Ken Griffin and media mogul, Rupert Murdoch have privately signaled their support from Marco Rubio. Rubio, however, has said that he's not going to run if Vance runs. JD is a very good friend of mine. If JD runs for president, I think he'd be a phenomenal candidate. I've said publicly, and I'll say it again, I'll be the first person to sign up and support him. Unlike Vance, Rubio is not a newcomer to politics. He was elected to the US Senate in 2010 and before that in the Florida State Legislature. Rubio was very critical of Trump in the 2016 campaign. If he builds the wall, the way he build Trump Towers, he'll be using illegal immigrant labor to do it. But over time he's become much more aligned with the president and actually become one of Trump's favorite members of his administration. If he does run, however, you could expect Rubio to run on a much more traditional conservative platform. He's going to adopt some parts of the MAGA agenda, but he'll run a campaign that looks a lot more like what Republicans have historically run on. Vance or Rubio are most likely to be the next Republican nominee for president, but there are other people who would like to run. Number one is Ted Cruz, who has wanted to be president forever. Listen, it's no secret that I want to be president. I ran for president. Are you going to run again? Are you going to run again? Time will tell. Cruz has been keeping up his national presence. He has a widely listened to podcast and he has been very active in the midterms, particularly in his home state of Texas where he's been aggressively campaigning for Attorney General Ken Paxton. I'm all in with Ken Paxton. I'm spending real time. I'm helping him raise millions of dollars because I think we got to win. We got to save our state of Texas. If he were to run, however, Cruz would almost certainly be a decided underdog to either Vance or Rubio, either of whom would most likely have Trump's support. Cruz would almost certainly target parts of the Republican Party that have been aligned with JD Vance. Someone like Tucker Carlsen, who Cruz is repeatedly attacked for his opposition to Israel. He has much more of a hawkish foreign policy and envisions a much more active US role in the world. Are we an isolationist party that withdraws from the world or do we believe in American leadership? Then there are less prominent figures in the Republican Party who could run, including Senator Josh Holly, the Missouri Senator who has taken an outspoken view against big tech. There's families of victims here today. Have you apologized to the victims? Would you like to do so now? Well - And he's talked about some issues that Republicans don't want to touch, such as abortion. I'm challenging my Republican colleagues, everybody who's running for office. If you're pro-life, you cannot be for the abortion drug. It's an issue that Republicans don't see as a political winner these days and increasingly don't want to touch. Another figure to keep an eye on is Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis ran against Trump in 2024, but there are people in the Republican Party who are convinced that he still wants to run again. Publicly, DeSantis has been non-committal. We'll see in the future. I have a lot of people that want me to do a lot of different things. But he's noted that he's still young and in his 40s and that he still has time to run if he decides he wants to. Another person who might be a dark horse is Louisiana Senator John Kennedy. Kennedy is a quote machine, is kind of seen as a hokey down to earth figure. He wrote a popular book this year and he's been active on the campaign trail for Republicans running in tight races. Rant Paul has also not lost his desire to be president. We're thinking about it and I would say fifty fifty. We'll make a decision after the election. Paul would run as a staunch libertarian, but would enter the race as a major underdog. Outside of current officeholders, there are a couple figures. One of them is Tucker Carlson. Carlson has a widely listened to podcast and is a major figure in conservative circles, but he's also seen as quite controversial, mainly because of his outspoken opposition to Israel. Again, this is probably the most violent country in the world, Israel. And because of his flirtation with a number of conspiracy theories. I think nuclear weapons, which I don't think were created by people, sorry. Donald Trump Jr. could get attention, but only if Vance and Rubio both decide not to run. He's also been honing his skills on the campaign trail. Another outside the box figure is Pete Hegseth. People close to Hegseth insist he has no interest in running for elected office, but he's been surprisingly active on the midterm campaign trail. We need those reinforcements in Washington DC. At this point, the Republican candidate is almost certainly to be either JD Vance or Marco Rubio, but in Trump's GOP, almost anything can happen.