President Donald Trump smiles as Vice President JD Vance speaks in the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, March 16, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump is privately pushing Vice President JD Vance as his White House successor to donors, according to a new report.
The Washington Post’s Natalie Allison and Isaac Arnsdorf reported on Thursday that Trump recently pushed Vance as a 2028 candidate in a private meeting.
“At the end of the day, we need to elect JD,” Trump told donors in the Oval Office, according to two people familiar with the meeting.
Trump has not publicly backed anyone for 2028, talking up both Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in public, and occasionally even joking about a third term for himself. According to an MS NOW report last month, Trump has grown more favorable to Vance running in 2028 due to the vice president’s recent media appearances and his slimmer look.
Some in Trump’s orbit, however, are not completely convinced Vance is the president’s 2028 pick just yet.
“Anyone assuming it’s a lock is just getting way ahead of themselves, or just doesn’t know the president very well,” a White House official said.
That same official told The Post that Trump was “peppering people around him with questions” on Marine One last month about Vance versus Rubio. That pop quiz would have taken place a few weeks before Trump’s Oval Office meeting with donors.
Six other “Trumpworld advisors” also cautioned it’s far too early for the president to have made a final decision, saying they “aren’t convinced” that Trump has settled on Vance.
A Trump adviser said the president “has privately resolved that Vance will be the heir to the GOP,” but cautioned that it’s still too early to tell whether Vance will run or Trump will back him with an endorsement.
He added that Trump would like to see Rubio on a ticket with Vance, but it’s unclear if Rubio would want to be Vance’s 2028 running mate.
The post ‘We Need to Elect JD’: Trump Privately Crowns Vance as Preferred Successor: Report first appeared on Mediaite.
