Republican pollster Sarah Longwell says there is a name coming up repeatedly in her focus groups when voters are asked who they want to lead the country next — and it is not JD Vance, Marco Rubio, or any of the conventional 2028 frontrunners.
It's Candace Owens.
"I think Candace Owens is great. I would vote for her in a minute," said Mycal, a Biden-to-Trump voter from North Carolina, in a February 2025 focus group conducted by Longwell for The Bulwark.
"If we would've swapped out Candace for Kamala, they would've had this in the bag," said Daniela, another Biden-to-Trump voter from the same session.
Longwell, a prominent Republican strategist and Never Trumper who has spent years running focus groups with Trump voters, says Owens has emerged as one of the most frequently mentioned non-politicians when participants are asked about potential future presidents — a phenomenon that cuts across age groups and even across traditional partisan lines.
The trend was underscored recently when Hunter Biden appeared on Owens's podcast, a pairing Longwell describes as "the melding of two of the internet's main characters." While many found the appearance shocking, Longwell says it fit a pattern she has been observing for years: Owens's appeal is no longer confined to the MAGA base.
Owens has built one of the most influential media platforms on the right, but has also drawn significant controversy — including for promoting antisemitic conspiracy theories and for her commentary about fellow conservative Charlie Kirk.
Longwell's piece in The Bulwark, titled "We're Not Talking Enough About President Candace Owens," argues that the political establishment is ignoring a real and growing phenomenon at its peril.