President Donald Trump recently told donors in private that he wants to see his vice president win the 2028 presidential election, according to the Washington Post, signaling he is open to publicly backing JD Vance as his preferred successor.
"We need to elect JD," Trump said to donors. The remark marks Trump's most explicit statement of support for Vance as a presidential contender, though some Trump advisers cautioned to the Washington Post that the president has not yet firmly settled on a single successor.
According to the Washington Post's reporting, advisers say Trump's remark doesn't mean the president has settled on a preferred candidate in 2028, as he continues to play up a contest between JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Trump has repeatedly told donors and advisers that he would like to see Vance and Rubio run a joint campaign, though without clarifying which candidate would lead the ticket, according to Time Magazine.
Time Magazine reported that Trump frequently asks Republican donors, his advisers, and dinner guests whether Vance or Rubio should run in 2028, effectively pitting them against each other. "They're both great; I like them both. And I like them together," Trump said, according to Time's account, adding that "they have to agree to it" and that there was still "a long time left" before 2028.
In a more recent statement to reporters, Trump suggested that Vice President JD Vance is "most likely" his heir apparent to serve as the Republican nominee in 2028. According to reporting from the Deccan Herald, Trump told Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy: "Well, I think most likely. In all fairness, he's the vice president."
Vance himself has been cautious about 2028 speculation. Time Magazine reported that the Vice President waved off speculation over his plans for 2028, telling reporters in May: "I'm not a potential future candidate. I'm a Vice President, and I really like my job."
The private backing stands in contrast to Trump's public equivocation. Time reported that Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of Vance and Rubio as a "dream team" in 2028.
The backdrop for succession maneuvering is that many Vance-skeptical Republicans want Rubio instead. Axios reported last month that Ken Griffin, one of the most prolific donors in GOP politics, said he'd back Rubio over Vance in a primary. A book titled "Regime Change" by Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, which Axios cited, revealed that when Trump asked Rupert Murdoch for his opinion on Vance and Rubio, the News Corp. boss said Vance "has the potential to be great" but that Rubio is "brilliant."
Trump has positioned Vance advantageously within the administration nonetheless. According to NBC News reporting from September 2025, Trump made Vance the first sitting vice president to serve as the Republican National Committee's finance chair, a role that keeps him connected to the party's top donors. NBC News also reported that many of Trump's recent fundraising emails direct contributions to a committee sending 5 percent of its proceeds to Vance's PAC, Working for Ohio, which netted the former Ohio senator's committee $245,000 in May and June alone, according to campaign finance disclosures detailed by NBC.
