In their latest look at how the 2028 presidential election is shaping up on the Republican side of things, the Washington Post analyzes the early field, but says there's room for 'some surprises.'
The standouts, they write, include Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State and one-time Trump foil Marco Rubio.
Because Vance has "done little set himself apart from Trump," they write, he is at the top of the list, according to September YouGov poll.
Rubio, they write, is frequently mentioned as Trump's successor, and even the president sees both Rubio and Vance as his heirs apparent.
"Marco’s great,” Trump said, adding of Vance and Rubio: “I’m not sure if anybody would run against those two. I think if they formed a group, it would be unstoppable.”
In what the Post describes as "the middle of the pack," are Trump's son Donald Jr., Ron DeSantis, the lame duck governor of Florida whom Trump publicly humiliated and eviscerated in the ephemeral 2024 Republican primary, and Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), another one-time Trump enemy turned rabid loyalist.
Donald Jr., writes the Post, "seems to be making the case that he’s the rightful heir to MAGA, saying recently of his desire to run: “That calling is there. I think my father has truly changed the Republican Party. I think it’s the America First party now, the MAGA party, however you want to look at it.”
As for DeSantis, "His run as governor of Florida ends in 2027, so he will have to build momentum for a presidential run while out of public office," the Post reports.
And though Cruz is now a reliable Trump loyalist, the Post writes, "he has also been differentiating himself in small yet notable ways.
Cruz blasted the Trump administration’s threats to cancel late-night host Jimmy Kimmel over protected speech as "dangerous as hell", has warned against Trump’s tariffs, and recently said he can’t support Trump's allegedly antisemitic pick for Kuwaiti ambassador.
Then there are the "dark horses," the Post says, including "Trump himself," in reference to his taunts of an illegal third term, and Department of Homeland Security leader Kristi Noem, whom Trump considered as his vice president when she was governor of South Dakota.
Noem, the Post says, has led the mass deportations which have "become one of Trump’s best-known — and controversial — policies, and Noem has owned it."
Another dark horse, the Post says, is health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has convinced Trump to regularly share "unfounded vaccine skepticism," despite recently getting vaxxed himself.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard is another dark horse, as is Utah's governor "Spencer Cox or another not-quite-MAGA candidate," the Post says, adding that "Republican strategists expect someone like Cox — or perhaps former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley or even former vice president Mike Pence — to run for president as an alternative to Trumpism."