Trump leaves open whether he’ll back a 2028 Republican contender

President Donald Trump says he may stay out of the Republican presidential primary in 2028 rather than endorse a successor.

Asked in a post-midterm interview whether he would support a candidate, Trump said he might not. He added that he could be better off avoiding the contest altogether.

For months, Trump has praised what he calls the Republican Party’s deep pool of talent. He repeated that assessment after the party lost control of both the House and Senate in last week’s midterm elections.

Potential candidates have already begun weighing in on what went wrong. Vice President JD Vance, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis were among those whose post-election comments drew attention.

Republican strategist Nicole Schlinger, who is based in Iowa, expects a competitive field. Candidates will test their messages in early-voting states, she said, giving grassroots voters a chance to decide which direction the party should take.

Here are some of the Republicans who could seek the party’s nomination in a post-Trump era.

JD Vance

Vance has long been seen as a likely frontrunner and a natural successor to Trump. The party’s poor midterm performance, however, may have turned what looked like an easy path to the nomination into a more contested race.

The vice president entered the post-election debate last Wednesday with a lengthy assessment on social media, blaming the war with Iran for the Republican losses. Some observers viewed the post as an early effort to position himself as the leading voice of the MAGA and America First movements.

Despite the setbacks, Vance remains near the top of early 2028 primary polls. His role as the Republican National Committee’s finance chair has also helped him build a fundraising network, and he already has a circle of advisers who could help launch a campaign.

Marco Rubio

Rubio, who lost the 2016 Republican nomination to Trump, has tried to keep discussion of 2028 at a distance. Trump and political commentators have floated him as a possible contender, and his standing in early polls has risen. Rubio has nevertheless brushed off speculation, including reports that he might leave his post as secretary of state to prepare a campaign.

He has said several times over the past year that he would support Vance if the vice president ran. Asked about the next election during a stop in France on Monday, Rubio made clear he did not want to keep discussing it.

Ted Cruz

Cruz, who finished second to Trump in the combative 2016 Republican primaries, has left the door open to another presidential run.

In his post-election analysis, Cruz called the Republican defeat a “blue tsunami” and said the party had lost touch with voters, including in Texas. He also pointed to what he described as a historic rebuke at the polls.

Cruz and Vance have shown clear differences over support for Israel, with Cruz making his backing of the Israeli government a prominent point. His popular podcast, “Verdict with Ted Cruz,” could also give him a sizable grassroots network if he decides to run.

Ron DeSantis

DeSantis, who is term-limited as Florida governor, ran for president in 2024. He began that race as a prominent challenger to Trump but was decisively defeated.

The morning after the midterms, DeSantis described the Republican results as close to an extinction-level event. He warned that the losses could affect the party for years, and said the outcome was worse than many had expected.

At the same time, he repeatedly pointed to Florida as a state that had managed to hold its ground. Speculation about another presidential campaign increased after the election, but DeSantis rejected a report that he was preparing a 2028 bid, saying he had not contacted anyone about running.

Mike Pence

Pence, Trump’s first vice president, ran unsuccessfully for the 2024 Republican nomination and says he has no plans to seek the White House again in 2028.

His policy and advocacy organization, Advancing American Freedom, has grown substantially over the past year. Pence has described defending the party’s conservative principles amid its shift toward populism and what he sees as expanding government as his current calling.

After the midterms, he argued that voters had rejected the party’s move toward economic populism and said the conservative comeback should begin immediately.

Brian Kemp

Georgia Gov. Kemp, who is nearing the end of his term, is also viewed as a possible presidential contender. After the Republican losses, he called for the party to return to its conservative principles in the months and years ahead.

Glenn Youngkin

Youngkin rose quickly in Republican politics after winning Virginia’s governorship in 2021, a year after Trump lost the White House and Republicans lost the Senate. He has repeatedly played down talk of a presidential campaign.

Instead, Youngkin has focused on education, including efforts to expand school choice through a national policy group he recently formed, Empowering America’s Parents.

Chris Christie

The former New Jersey governor, who unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination in 2016 and 2024, is seriously considering another presidential run.

Christie called the midterms a rejection of both the Republican Party and Trump, and urged Republicans to examine the results and learn from them. He has said he expects to decide within the next few months, though he has not set a firm timetable.

Don Bacon

Bacon, a former Air Force brigadier general, has sometimes broken with Trump on foreign policy and national security. He decided not to run for re-election and will leave Congress in two months.

He has said he is open to a presidential campaign in 2028 or to taking a supporting role on another Republican’s ticket.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Sanders, the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, became a nationally known figure while serving as White House press secretary during much of Trump’s first term.

She made history as Arkansas’s first elected woman governor and won re-election by a wide margin last week. That has added to speculation that she could eventually seek the presidency.

Tom Cotton

Cotton, an Army veteran who served in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, was recently re-elected to the Senate. He considered a presidential campaign in 2024 but ultimately stayed out of the race.

Once viewed as a rising Republican figure and a possible Trump running mate, Cotton is still considered a potential candidate for the White House.

Rick Scott

Scott, a wealthy former two-term Florida governor, also considered a 2024 presidential run before choosing to seek re-election to the Senate.

His campaign appearances in Iowa and New Hampshire during the midterms, including stops in the first two states on the Republican nominating calendar, have prompted speculation about a possible 2028 bid.

John Kennedy

Kennedy is up for re-election to the Senate in 2028. He has said he might consider running for president instead if he feels he can no longer be effective in the Senate or is unhappy with the Republican primary field.

Mike Pompeo

Pompeo, a former Kansas congressman who served as CIA director and secretary of state during Trump’s first administration, gave serious thought to running in 2024 before deciding against it.

Asked last year about a possible 2028 campaign, he said he would see what the next couple of years brought. Political observers continue to regard him as a potential contender.

Thomas Massie

Massie, a Republican critic of Trump, lost his bid for renomination earlier this year to Ed Gallrein, who had Trump’s backing. Massie has said he is not ruling out a presidential run.

After last week’s election, Axios reported that Libertarian Party operatives and former MAGA supporters opposed to Trump were encouraging Massie to run as a third-party or Libertarian candidate.