Vice President JD Vance’s 2026 campaign blitz is likely to boost Republican chances of holding on to both chambers of Congress in the midterm elections, but some allies say his travel spree further positions him for victory should he opt to seek the GOP presidential nomination in 2028.Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have long been viewed as President Donald Trump’s top two successors, a notion that White House officials liken to speculative chatter despite the president’s frequent comments on the topic.Prediction markets showed Vance with a sizable lead for most of Trump’s second term, yet that dynamic started to shift earlier this month following Rubio’s fill-in press briefing at the White House. Though Vance does maintain leads in some much-too-early predictive polls and models, Rubio now leads both Vance and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA), a top contender for the 2028 Democratic nomination, in Kalshi’s 2028 presidential market. Meanwhile, a poll published Thursday by Emerson College showed Rubio erasing the 32-point lead Vance held in February over the prospective 2028 GOP field.
However, three senior Republican strategists maintain that Vance’s own slate of campaign-style events is lending him one major leg up on Rubio should both vie for the presidency.
