The Patriot Post® · Vance and Cruz and Rubio — Oh My!

Remember when talking about the next presidential election two years early seemed wildly premature? Apparently, a two-year presidential campaign isn’t jumping the gun anymore — it’s quickly becoming the new norm.

The 2026 midterms aren’t even here yet, and both parties are already looking ahead to 2028. On the Democrat side, Gavin Newsom has been making appearances in early-primary territory like South Carolina. Speculation continues to build around Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who hasn’t announced a presidential campaign but hasn’t exactly shut down the rumors either. In fact, she has openly left the possibility on the table. The DNC seems to be already establishing its 2028 primary calendar.

And Republicans certainly aren’t waiting either.

If last week’s Republican convention in Dallas was any indication, JD Vance may have just delivered the closest thing we’ve seen to a soft launch of a 2028 presidential campaign.

Vance didn’t announce anything. He didn’t need to.

Instead, he talked about something much more personal: his newborn son, Alec, and what he hopes America will look like when that little boy grows up.

He spoke about wanting his son to inherit a country where families can afford homes, young people can raise children, Americans can build things again, communities are safe, and children grow up understanding that they inherited something worth protecting.

“I want our children to grow up in a country that doesn’t roll its eyes at people who pray,” Vance told the audience, adding, “This country itself was an answer to prayer 250 years ago.”

He wasn’t laying out policy proposals so much as a broader vision — one centered on returning America to its founding principles and purpose.

And the obvious implication was that Vance intends to play some role in making that vision happen.

The crowd certainly picked up on it. Chants of “48” broke out during the convention, referring to Vance potentially becoming America’s 48th president. President Donald Trump himself praised Vance’s performance, and Vance stepped more clearly into the spotlight as a possible successor.

That sentiment appears to be resonating with the Republican base, particularly among younger and more populist voters. As Reuters noted, “Supporters cited the 42-year-old’s youth and appeal to grassroots activists as reasons he is well positioned to advance the party’s populist, anti-establishment agenda once Trump leaves the political stage.”

But Vance didn’t stay in hopeful-dad mode for long.

From there, his speech turned toward what he believes threatens that future. He heavily criticized Democrats over immigration, crime, economic policy and cultural issues, and described the party as increasingly hostile to the values he wants his children to inherit.

That combination suggests Vance wants to lead the political movement Trump built — but without becoming Trump 2.0.

Trump’s political style is uniquely Trump. Trying to recreate it would look ridiculous on almost anyone else.

So Vance attempted to separate himself as a unique candidate: carrying forward Trump’s populism, nationalism, and willingness to fight political opponents, while building his own identity around family, faith, and generational responsibility.

But while he may be positioning himself as the natural heir to the movement Trump built, he isn’t the only Republican who has his eye on what comes next. Ted Cruz, for one, doesn’t appear ready to hand him the nomination.

Cruz delivered what The Daily Wire described as a “high-octane address” that “blew the roof off the hall,” as he warned of a direct, existential threat to the Republic and a growing “red-green alliance” between communists and Islamists. He argued that Americans need to take radical political movements seriously before they gain greater influence.

Cruz also invoked his father’s experience fleeing Cuba and framed the political fight as one over capitalism, constitutional government, and religious freedom. More importantly for 2028 speculation, Cruz recently acknowledged something everyone probably already knew: “It’s no secret that I want to be president.”

So yes. Ted Cruz is very much still standing in the doorway.

Then there’s Marco Rubio.

And Rubio may be the most interesting one because he’s doing almost everything you’re not supposed to do if you plan to run for president.

He skipped the Dallas convention because he was overseas performing his duties as secretary of state. He hasn’t been building an obvious presidential campaign operation, and has even said he has “no plans at this time” to throw his hat in the ring.

He has also repeatedly spoken favorably about Vance, even saying that if Vance runs, he expects to be one of his earliest supporters.

That sounds fairly definitive.

Except Republican voters apparently refuse to stop considering him.

Rubio remains popular with Republican voters, as his prominent role has given him an enormous platform without requiring him to campaign. Some convention attendees were openly enthusiastic about a possible Rubio candidacy despite his absence, and PBS found Republicans discussing Vance, Rubio, Cruz, and Ron DeSantis as possible post-Trump leaders.

People continue wondering about Rubio for understandable reasons. He’s already run for president. He’s spent years building relationships with donors and Republican voters. He’s accumulated substantial foreign-policy experience. And at 55, he has plenty of political runway remaining.

But a former Rubio aide provided another reason Rubio has little interest in 2028: he reportedly views the election as extraordinarily difficult for Republicans to win. That assessment isn’t necessarily based on the party’s policies or its potential candidates, but on history and the difficulty of keeping the White House under the same party after a change in president. The Washington Examiner cited the former aide as saying, “The thing is that the White House has only stayed in one party’s hands, from one president to a different one, once since the Second World War. That is at the heart of his thinking.”

Still, Rubio’s apparent reluctance to enter the race hasn’t stopped Republican voters from imagining what the race might look like if he changed his mind. Which brings us back to the matchup political observers are particularly fixated on: Vance versus Rubio.

Trump himself has helped fuel the idea that these two will be the lead candidates, publicly praising both men and at times floating the possibility that they could eventually end up together in some form. Meanwhile, Trump reportedly privately told donors that “we need to elect JD,” which has only intensified speculation that Vance is becoming his preferred successor.

Of course, there’s plenty of time for all of this to change. Rubio could eventually decide that the opportunity is too significant to pass up. Cruz could turn the speculation surrounding his ambitions into a serious campaign of his own. Or someone barely registering in the 2028 conversation today could emerge as a major contender. We are, after all, still two years away, and presidential politics has a way of making early predictions look foolish.

But one thing became considerably clearer in Dallas: Republicans are already beginning to think seriously about what the party looks like after Donald Trump leaves the political stage. That’s despite Trump’s occasional suggestions about serving beyond his second term — his supporters know the trolling will generate plenty of outrage and headlines on the Left.

Behind all of that noise, however, the GOP appears to understand that a post-Trump era is coming, and the conversation about who leads it has already begun.

Vance is defining the future he wants to help build, Cruz is making clear that he still has national ambitions, and voters continue talking about Rubio, whether he wants them to or not. The candidates may change, and the eventual field is far from settled, but the conversation itself is already underway.

The race to replace Donald Trump isn’t waiting for 2028. It has already started.