A number of White House insiders say the Republican Party already has strong expectations as to who will lead the party in 2028, revealing for the first time the GOP’s ideal presidential ticket to Politico on Friday.
“[Secretary of State] Marco [Rubio] has been very clear that [Vice President] JD [Vance] is going to be the Republican nominee if he wants to be,” said a person close to Rubio, speaking with Politico on the condition of anonymity. “He will do anything he can just to support the vice president in that effort.”
Another person that Politico described as a person “close to the White House” told the outlet that the “expectation is JD as [the presidential nominee] and Rubio as VP.”
A new Politico poll released on Friday shows that among Republican voters, 2% said they viewed Vance as the current leader of the party, and Rubio, 0.1%. But, when asked who they’d prefer to lead the party’s ticket in 2028, 35% said Vance, and 2% said Rubio; 28% said President Donald Trump should mount a third run for office, which is prohibited by the Constitution.
Trump has publicly commented at the prospect of a Vance-Rubio presidential ticket, saying last week that the hypothetical campaign would be “unstoppable.” Another insider told Politico that the two maintain a friendly relationship, suggesting that the pairing was well within the realm of possibility.
“No one expects Marco to resign from the Cabinet and start taking potshots at the sitting vice president,” said another insider, speaking with Politico on the condition of anonymity. “Beyond that, they’re friends.”
Rubio himself has said that Vance would make a “great” GOP presidential nominee, and a former campaign staffer of his told Politico that they “wouldn’t be surprised” if he ended up accepting Vance’s vice presidential spot on the ticket.
