5 Republicans who could run for president in 2028

The 2024 presidential race may barely be behind us, but the 2028 race is already underway.

President-elect Donald Trump is term-limited, leaving 2028 wide open for Republican hopefuls to swoop in and seek the nomination.

"As soon as Trump became the nominee, we might even say as soon as Trump won the Iowa caucuses so overwhelmingly in January, it began," said Iowa Republican Chairman Jeff Kaufmann, whose state will host the GOP’s first 2028 caucuses about 39 months from now.

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Here are five potential GOP presidential candidates for 2028:

Vice President-elect JD Vance

With Trump back in the White House, Vice President-Elect JD Vance is the obvious front-runner in 2028.  

At 40 years old, he’s been introduced as an ideal successor to Trumpian populism. 

"The guy who stands next to the president for eight years, or in this case four years, just has a huge psychological advantage," said former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, especially when he offers what the party’s base already embraces. "Now, they have a simple challenge: to deliver."

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But Being Trump’s running mate isn’t a guarantee for future political success. Former Vice President Mike Pence’s years of loyalty to Trump were erased in the eyes of many Republican voters when he refused to accede to Trump’s demands that he try to stop the certification of Democrat Joe Biden’s victory. When Pence ran for the 2024 nomination, he often drew anemic crowds and boos from Trump supporters who labeled him a traitor. He dropped out months before the Iowa caucuses.

Vance, however, likely wouldn’t face the same reaction: He said in previous interviews that had he been vice president on Jan. 6, 2021, he would not have certified the results of the 2020 election. 

"If I had been vice president, I would have told the states, like Pennsylvania, Georgia and so many others, that we needed to have multiple slates of electors, and I think the U.S. Congress should have fought over it from there," Vance said in an interview with ABC News.

Nikki Haley

Trump’s last-standing 2024 rival, Nikki Haley, received more votes than anyone else who challenged Trump in the 2024 primaries. The former South Carolina governor and Trump’s former U.N. Ambassador is popular among moderates, but not well-received with Trump’s base. 

She drew audible boos in July when she took the stage at the Republican National Convention. 

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 "I haven’t always agreed with Trump but we agree more often than we disagree. ... You don’t have to agree with Trump 100% of the time to vote for him," she said in her speech. 

Despite her public support for Trump, Trump never invited her to campaign for him – and it’s not likely she would have his support if she runs in 2028. 

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is popular among the GOP old guard, the Chamber of Commerce crowd that’s uneasy with Trump’s and now Vance’s populist brand. 

But Youngkin has studiously avoided criticizing Trump, and his conservative agenda in left-leaning Virginia mirrors a lot of Trump’s talking points. He supports expanded tax cuts, new limits on abortion and a rollback of clean energy mandates. 

Youngkin was a wealthy venture capitalist before he ran for governor. 

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio

Florida Sen. Marco Rubio ran for president in 2016 and was a finalist for the 2024 ticket before Trump opted for Vance. 

Like Vance, Rubio was once a harsh critic of Trump. During the 2016 Republican race for president, Trump started calling him "Little Marco" and mocking him. Rubio responded by insulting Trump’s makeup and the size of his hands.

Rubio also called Trump a "con artist," and "the most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency."

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But their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House, and as Trump campaigned for the presidency a third time, Rubio cheered his proposals.

In the Senate, Rubio had long been a prominent voice on immigration and was a key member of a group that worked on a 2013 bill that included a path to citizenship for millions of people in the country illegally. Now, Rubio says he supports Trump’s plan to deploy the U.S. military to deport those in the country illegally.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders was Trump’s most enduring of several White House press secretaries, and in the process became an endearing figure for core Trump voters.

In her first year as governor, she signed several conservative bills, according to Politico, including a ban on transgender students using school restrooms of their choice, looser rules for hiring 14- and 15-year-olds, a ban on "obscene" material in public libraries, private and charter school vouchers, and a ban on teachers discussing "gender identity, sexual orientation and sexual reproduction" in school before fifth grade.

Sanders also delivered the Republican response to Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address. 

Her father, Mike Huckabee, served as governor of Arkansas for 12 years and ran for president in 2008 and 2016.