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Archive photo · 25 March 2026JD Vance’s 2028 Succession Path Turns Murkier After Republican Midterm Shellacking
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Midterm rout undermines Vance’s path to consolidating support behind Trump. Vance publicly signals 2028 bid via social post amid MAGA reevaluation.
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Succession scramble begins
Vice President JD Vance’s path to succeeding President Donald Trump grew “much murkier” after Republicans suffered a “Republican shellacking” in Tuesday’s midterm elections, according to CNN. Vance blamed the party’s sweeping losses on the war with Iran and distanced himself from Trump’s unpopular foreign policy decisions, and he wrote on X, “Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.”
Newt Gingrich said on X that “the scale of the Republican defeat is so great that it makes the race for the GOP presidential nomination wide open,” arguing that the defeat created an opening for rivals. Bob Vander Plaats, an influential conservative leader in Iowa, predicted the losses would embolden presidential hopefuls and said, “By next year, he said, the field could rival the crowded 2016 Republican primary.”
Vance, DeSantis, Cruz
Ron DeSantis seized on the midterm results, calling them an “extinction-level event for Republicans,” while saying Florida “was able to hold the line,” and he told CNN he will “be a free man” in January. Ted Cruz said on his “Verdict” podcast that “too many in politics dismissed” affordability concerns, and he argued that voters were “pissed off” and Republicans “didn’t do enough to address their very real pain.”
Vance also faced a political reckoning over his association with the Trump administration, and Gingrich wrote on X that “Now there are a number of people who want to recruit the amazing Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a candidate.” DeSantis told a press conference that “for Republicans in many parts of the country, this amounts to almost total annihilation,” and he called on Congress to prohibit lawmakers from trading stocks while arguing the restrictions should extend to members of the executive branch.
2028 stakes and bets
Democrats won control of the House and Senate in Tuesday’s midterm elections, and Newsweek said the results flipped Senate seats in Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio, Kansas and Iowa.
In Texas, Democrat James Talarico defeated Republican Ken Paxton, and Newsweek said Democrats also won in Ohio as Democrat Amy Acton beat Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in the governor’s race.
Trump told reporters at the White House that “We’ll see what happens. We don’t know who will run. There are many people. Maybe no one will. Maybe he won’t run, I don’t know,” when asked about Vance’s political ambitions.
The Council on Foreign Relations framed the 2028 race as beginning “tomorrow,” and it said Vance is “the odds-on-favorite to win the Republican nomination,” while warning that distancing from Trump carries the risk of being seen as disloyalty.