Vance Laughs Off Question About Trump Not Endorsing Him for 2028
Vice President JD Vance brushed off a question on Wednesday about why President Donald Trump hasn’t officially backed him yet for a 2028 presidential run.
During a conversation with the Daily Mail, Vance laughed when asked about Trump’s reluctance to name him as his chosen successor, saying the timing simply isn’t right.
“I think he said exactly what he should have said, which is, ‘It’s too early,’” Vance remarked, emphasizing that his current focus isn’t on future campaigns.
“There will be a time to focus on politics, of course — [like] the midterms. … So let’s do a good job and then worry about the midterms,” said Vance, who previously served as a Republican senator from Ohio. “And then we’ll worry about presidential politics at the appropriate time.”
Fox News anchor Bret Baier raised the topic during a pre-Super Bowl interview, asking Trump directly if he viewed Vance as the natural 2028 contender.
“No, but he’s very capable,” Trump responded. “I think you have a lot of very capable people. So far, I think he’s doing a very fantastic job,” the president continued. “It’s too early; we’re just starting.”
Earlier this month, Vance traveled to Europe to give his first prominent speech on the global stage, where he strongly criticized European leaders for shutting down dissenting voices. Along with this, Vance has taken on key roles, such as overseeing discussions surrounding a potential TikTok deal, managing hurricane relief coordination in the United States, and helping rally support from hesitant Republican lawmakers for some of Trump’s more contentious nominees.
Vance has also cemented himself as the clear favorite to follow Trump as leader of the MAGA movement, according to a straw poll held at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) over the weekend, The Hill reported.
Out of 1,022 CPAC attendees who participated, 61 percent voiced their backing for Vance as the next GOP standard-bearer. Former Trump adviser and conservative media figure Steve Bannon secured 12 percent of the vote, while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis followed with 7 percent.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), Trump’s current pick for UN ambassador, each collected 3 percent support. Other notable names — including Donald Trump Jr., Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who is widely expected to enter Ohio’s gubernatorial race next week — each garnered 2 percent.
Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders (R), Florida Senator Rick Scott (R), Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and Trump’s former primary challenger Nikki Haley all earned 1 percent support. Meanwhile, 4 percent of those surveyed said they remained undecided.
The CPAC straw poll was organized by Republican pollster Jim McLaughlin, and the same poll showed Trump enjoying an overwhelming 99 percent approval rating.
Earlier this month, Vance issued a fresh warning to “rogue” federal judges whom he accused of misusing their authority to obstruct President Trump’s constitutional powers as head of the Executive Branch.
Several of Trump’s key initiatives — such as ending birthright citizenship, withholding certain federal grants, and restructuring agencies like the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau — have faced legal roadblocks from the courts. Just last week, the administration was hit with another challenge after a federal judge temporarily blocked Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing the Treasury Department’s federal payment platform, a system containing sensitive data on millions of Americans, according to ABC News.
“If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” Vance said over the weekend, per ABC.
Trump was also asked to respond to Vance’s comments and his own frustrations with the judiciary.
“When a president can’t look for fraud and waste and abuse, we don’t have a country anymore,” Trump said to reporters. “So, we’re very disappointed, but with the judges that would make such a ruling. But we have a long way to go.”
“No judge should, frankly, be allowed to make that kind of a decision,” Trump added. “It’s a disgrace.”