GOP coalescing behind Vance as Trump privately dismisses third-term run
WASHINGTON— When Charlie Kirk was killed by an assassin this fall, Republican leaders claimed that the organization he founded had facilitated President Trump’s return to power.
Now this organization is mobilizing behind Vice President JD Vance.
Turning Point USA, which is not interested in a competitive Republican primary in 2028, plans to field representatives in Iowa’s 99 counties in the coming months to build the campaign infrastructure it believes could give Vance, a Midwesterner from nearby Ohio, a decisive victory and potentially short-circuit a contentious GOP race, he said.
It’s the latest move in a quiet effort by some in Trump’s orbit to clear the field of viable rivals. Earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had previously been floated by Trump as a possible candidate, appeared to have withdrawn himself from the race.
“If Vance runs for president, he will be our candidate, and I will be one of the first people to support him,” Rubio told Vanity Fair.
After Kirk’s widow, Erika, endorsed Vance on stage at the Turning Point USA annual conference in Arizona last week, a poll of attendees found 84% would support Vance in the upcoming primary. But broader public opinion polling reveals a different picture.
A CNN poll in early December found Vance had the support of a majority of Republicans in 2028, at 22%, while all other potential candidates, such as Rubio and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, were recording in the single digits.
The remaining 64 percent told pollsters they “didn’t have anyone in particular in mind,” reflecting an open field with plenty of room for other figures to gain ground.
While a recent Gallup poll found that 91 percent of Republicans approve of Vance’s job performance as vice president (an encouraging number going into the partisan primary), only 39 percent of Americans across party lines view him favorably in that role, leaving Vance prepared for potential challenges if he wins the nomination.
Potential presidential candidates on both sides of the political aisle are expected to weigh their chances next year before the primary season officially begins following November’s midterm elections.
Closing the Turning Point USA conference, Vance called for party unity amid growing clashes among right-wing influencers over the acceptability of racism and antisemitism in Republican politics.
“President Trump did not build the greatest coalition in politics by subjecting his supporters to endless, self-defeating purity tests,” Vance said. “Every American is invited. We don’t care if you’re White or Black, rich or poor, young or old, rural or urban, controversial or a little boring or somewhere in between.”
Charlie Kirk added, “I trusted you all to make your own decisions. And we have much more important things to do than cancel each other out.”
Vance’s remarks drew criticism from some on the right for tolerating bigotry within the party. The vice president himself has been subjected to racist rhetoric; Far-right podcaster Nick Fuentes, who has praised Adolf Hitler, has repeatedly attacked Vance’s wife and children for their Indian roots.
“Let me be clear: anyone who attacks my wife can be f—ed, whether their name is Jen Psaki or Nick Fuentes.” Vance said in an interview: last week, referring to President Biden’s former press secretary. “This is my official policy as vice president of the United States.”
In the same interview, Vance praised Tucker Carlson, another far-right podcaster who defended Fuentes on free speech grounds, as “my friend” and noted that Vance supports Trump’s election as vice president in 2024.
Without ever publicly endorsing his candidacy, Trump has cited Vance as his potential successor on multiple occasions, calling him “very talented” and the “most likely” choice for the party.
“He’s the vice president,” Trump said in August. “He certainly does a great job and is probably preferable at this point.”
Some of Trump’s most ardent supporters have pushed for Trump to run for a third term in 2028 despite a provision in the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution.
Trump himself said the Constitution seems clear on this issue. But Steve Bannon, the architect of Trump’s historic 2016 campaign and one of his first White House strategists, continues to defend a path to another election, reportedly disparaging Vance as “not tough enough” to lead the party to victory.
“He knows he can’t run again,” Susie Wiles, the president’s White House chief of staff, said in a recent profile in Vanity Fair. “It’s pretty obvious.”
Trump, who will be 82 when he is scheduled to leave office, added that he told Wiles “several times” that he realized a third term was not possible.
Alan Dershowitz, a prominent constitutional law professor and Trump’s lawyer during his Senate impeachment trial, recently presented Trump with a road map for a third term at an Oval Office meeting, which Trump will publish in a new book scheduled for publication next year.
Even he left the meeting believing that Trump would accept another offer.
“That’s my conclusion based on what he’s said publicly,” Dershowitz told The Times.
“She said it was so sweet in the past,” he added.
