WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said in an interview broadcast Sunday that he will “probably” endorse a candidate in the 2028 Republican presidential primary, “but not necessarily,” as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis steps up his media appearances and supporters of Secretary of State Marco Rubio urge him to consider a run.
Asked on 60 Minutes whether he would back a successor, the president said Republicans “have a tremendous bench” and that “I have so many people that I have great relationships with.” Besides Vice President JD Vance and Rubio, he said, “there’s some senators that are excellent.”
“I may or may not get involved. I don’t know,” Trump said. “Maybe I’m better off not getting involved. I think it would play a big role if I did, because my endorsement capacity has been very strong.”
Before last week’s midterm elections, the 2028 Republican primary looked like a relatively easy path for Vance, if he runs as expected, Axios reported Sunday. After Republicans lost more than 40 House seats and at least seven Senate seats, according to CBS News, the early contest to succeed Trump has become less settled.
DeSantis: ‘a very uncertain time’
DeSantis, who leaves office in January because of term limits, has not said whether he will run again after his 2024 campaign. In a post-election interview on CNN, he said: “I haven’t planned anything because I just think this is a very uncertain time. But last night should be a wakeup call for our party,” according to Axios. “We really got blasted into oblivion,” he said. “And Florida is kind of the last one standing.”
Axios reported that DeSantis began a round of media interviews with an Election Day appearance on Stephen A. Smith’s podcast. Florida was the one state in the GOP’s so-called red wall that the national Democratic wave did not overtake, Axios reported, a point DeSantis has emphasized since the election.
Some Republican donors have said they would support DeSantis, according to The Wall Street Journal, as cited by Axios.
Rubio says he is staying at State
Rubio has said repeatedly that he plans to serve out his term as secretary of state, through January 2029, and said in May that he would not run against Vance, Axios reported. After two publications reported last week that he was considering resigning to prepare a campaign, Rubio denied it to The New York Times, and longtime associates told Axios the reports were wrong.
Supporters contacted Rubio on election night urging him to reconsider, according to a source quoted by Axios, who described a sense that “we lost the Latino vote, you can get it back.”
A national AtlasIntel poll taken Oct. 28 to Nov. 1, before the election, found Rubio with a commanding lead over Vance in a hypothetical Republican primary, with DeSantis, Tucker Carlson and Donald Trump Jr. each under 5%, USA Today reported. The poll surveyed 3,566 respondents and reported a margin of error of 2 percentage points. Other polling has shown Vance ahead; early primary polls often shift as candidates enter and leave.
Vance’s post-election argument
Vance offered his own explanation of the losses the morning after the election. “The real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone,” he wrote on X, saying the reason was the war with Iran, The Guardian reported. He also called for addressing the cost of living and putting America first.
Trump told 60 Minutes that Vance had told him in advance about the post and that he replied, “You write what you want.” The president said “I don’t disagree” with Vance’s diagnosis “other than one thing”: he said he would make the decision to strike Iran again, and that history would judge it well.
The Democratic side
On the Democratic side, the same AtlasIntel poll found Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia narrowly ahead of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, with Pete Buttigieg third and former Vice President Kamala Harris fourth, USA Today reported. Rep. Ro Khanna of California, widely seen as a likely contender for the 2028 Democratic nomination, has made more visits to Nevada than any other potential candidate, the Inquisitor reported Nov. 1, citing The Nevada Independent’s tracker.
Democrats are holding a post-midterm gathering of potential candidates in Denver later this month, the Inquisitor has reported. Candidates in recent cycles have typically announced about a year and a half before Election Day, which would put the first formal 2028 announcements next spring, CBC News noted.
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