Vice President JD Vance said in an interview that aired on Thursday that neither he nor Secretary of State Marco Rubio are entitled to the presidency, but said he will have a conversation with President Trump about the 2028 presidential election after next year’s midterm elections.
“We’re going to do everything that we can to win the midterms,” Vance told Fox News host Sean Hannity when asked how he is thinking about the 2028 presidential elections. “And then after that, I’m going to sit down with the president of the United States and talk to him about it.”
The vice president insisted he was focused on “the now,” noting that the administration and the current GOP majority in Washington has over a year to implement its agenda.
“If we do a good job, the politics will take care of itself,” Vance said. “So I’m just going to focus on the job that I have.”
Hannity went on to ask Vance about his relationship with Rubio and the theory that the two men are rivals.
“I don’t feel like that at all,” Vance said. “If Marco eventually runs for president, then we can cross that bridge when we come to it.”
“People have asked me ‘do you see Marco as a rival,’ and first of all, if either of us end up running, it’s a long ways in the future and neither of us is entitled to it. So I think it would be ridiculous for me to say Marco is a rival. No, Marco is a colleague,” he said.
Vance is considered to be the top candidate to replace Trump in the 2028 presidential election, but Rubio has also been floated as a potential contender.
Last month, Trump floated Vance and Rubio as potential successors while aboard Air Force One.
“We have JD obviously, the vice president, who’s great,” Trump told reporters. “Marco’s great. I’m not sure if anyone would run against those two. I think if they ever formed a group it would be unstoppable.”
When asked about his relationship with Rubio following Trump’s remarks, the vice president referred to the secretary of state as his “best friend” within the administration.
“First of all, no, there’s not going to be any tension,” Vance told the New York Post’s Miranda Devine on the “Pod Force One” podcast. “Marco is my best friend in the administration. He and I work a lot together and we really do, I think — a lot of the good work that we do as an administration is because we’re all able to work together.”
