GOP money man drops bombshell warning about Vance's 2028 bid: 'There's no support'

A Republican fundraiser says some of the party’s big-money backers want nothing to do with a JD Vance presidential run.

Eric Levine is a GOP fundraiser and board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition who has opposed Vance’s rise since his 2022 Senate win. He told The Washington Post that four or five major donors have told him they don’t want to back the vice president.

“I can’t speak to every donor that’s out there, but the large donors that I’ve spoken to, there’s no support for the guy, and they’re looking where they can put their money,” said Levine, who supported Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) in the 2024 Republican primary.

He went further: “Let’s hope he concludes that he can’t win in a general election and he wants to spend more time with his family and he decides not to run.”

Levine isn’t the first donor to signal resistance. In July, Citadel billionaire Ken Griffin said at the Allen & Company Sun Valley conference that he’d be inclined to back Marco Rubio over Vance in a 2028 primary, a move that made him one of the first megadonors to publicly pick a side. Rubio has said he would support Vance if Vance runs.

Vance has also faced criticism from some pro-Israel Republicans. Over the summer, many Jewish Republicans began rallying behind Rubio, citing concerns about antisemitism on the right and Vance’s silence on figures like Tucker Carlson, according to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. According to the Post, some commentators who view Vance as insufficiently friendly to Israel condemned his post-election message blaming the Iran war for GOP losses. That message also sparked conflicting White House accounts of whether Trump was caught off guard.

Vance’s camp says it isn’t worried. People around him told the Post that the prospect of losing some traditional GOP funders hasn’t fazed them. One ally said Vance’s goal has long been to make the right enemies.

Vance also has his own donor base. He has spent the past year as finance chair of the Republican National Committee, and he reportedly raised more than $5 million at an August New York fundraiser aimed at young Republican donors. The Rockbridge Network, a donor group Vance co-founded, met in Texas this week to dissect the midterm results, the Post reported. That same network is the focus of a Brazilian investigation.

Vance has privately said he will weigh a 2028 decision over the holidays.