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Trump Named Potential Successors. How Do They and the Party Fare in 2028?

Rebecca Downs
Rebecca Downs  |  May 05, 2025 9:30 AM

During his Sunday show appearance with NBC News' Kristen Welker on "Meet the Press," President Donald Trump shared his thoughts on the 2028 election, specifically on what fellow Republicans could potentially succeed him. There were specific names he tossed out there, and they are names that make sense. it was bound to come up, especially with the chatter about Trump running for a third term, as well as the sale of "Trump 2028" hats, and with Welker having asked him about it recently 

It's long been suspected that Trump has been trolling the media and reveling in the attention with talk of another run. This interview pretty much confirmed that. There's no harm in people wearing the hats, though. Further, they don't specifically say "Donald Trump 2028." Perhaps Don Jr. could take up the mantle, if people want the hats to actually mean something.

When asked if Trump was "seriously considering a third term," Welker reminded him of the Constitutional prohibitions, though she also offered another reason to bring up running in 2028, asking "is this about staying politically viable?"

"I will say this: so many people want me to do it. I have never had requests so strong as that, but it’s something that, to the best of my knowledge, you’re not allowed to do," Trump offered. "I don’t know if that’s constitutional, that they’re not allowing you to do or anything else, but there are many people willing to wear the 2028 hats, but this is not something I’m looking to do. I’m looking to have four great years and turn it over to somebody, ideally, a great Republican, a great Republican to carry it forward, but I think we’ll have four years, And I think four years is plenty of time to do something really spectacular."

That sounds like a reasonable enough response, especially since there are members of Congress looking into a resolution to, though Trump himself said he's "not looking at that."

With that out of the way, Welker got to bringing up Trump's successor, not only when it comes to 2028, but also the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, which the president called "the greatest... political movement in history." Welker also acknowledged that Trump "built a political movement that has transformed the Republican Party" and "transformed the country."

Trump was clear that he sees MAGA as being able to survive, and due to "tremendous people." Picking up on his confidence, Welker asked why that was, which was when he mentioned two of those people by name, including Vice President JD Vance, though it was Secretary of State Marco Rubio whose name came up first. Rubio has also taken on many acting roles as well in the administration.

"I think it’s so strong. And I think we have tremendous people. I think we have a tremendous group of people. We talked about a number of them. You look at Marco, you look at JD Vance, who’s fantastic," Trump offered, though he also made clear there are others he could name. "You look at--I could name 10, 15, 20 people right now just sitting here. No, I think we have a tremendous party," he added, before he went on to knock the opposition.

For this part of the conversation, Welker was talking about the future of MAGA, but she and the president also went to discuss his successor, and Trump mentioned those names once more. Vance, as the vice president, a point Trump himself also made, could seem like a logical choice, given his current position. And the polls do seem to reflect that. In fact, at least at this point, it's not even close. 

Race to the WH shows Vance in the lead with an average of 49 percent support. Rubio finishes sixth, with 5.2 percent support, though it's still early enough for Rubio to catch up, if he does want to run for president again. There are recent polls showing Vance with as much as close to 60 percent, including the AtlasIntel poll from last month. That same poll showed Rubio with close to 9 percent support. 

One of the names in between those averages is Don Jr., bringing it back to the "Trump 2028" conversation. He enjoys an average of 18.5 percent support overall, putting him in a distant second place. 

"And you know what I can’t name? I can’t name one Democrat. I mean, I look at the Democrats, they’re in total disarray. They have a new person named Crockett. I watched her speak the other day. She’s definitely a low IQ person. And they said she’s the future of the party," Trump then shared during the interview, as he went on to further speak to about Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX) and the dark fate for the Democratic Party that looms. 

"I said, 'You have to be kidding.' I don’t know what they’re going to do. And I really believe in a two-party system. I really--because it’s good to be challenged. It’s really good to have a two-party--you know, it’s good. Being challenged is okay. It keeps you sharp. I don’t know what they’re going to do. They have nobody. Bernie’s 87 years old or something. And you know, Biden is the worst thing that ever happened to old people because he was grossly incompetent. And I think maybe for artificial reasons. You know, he had operations and things. So maybe that’s an artificial--but I know people that are unbelievably sharp and they’re older than 87. But I watch Bernie Sanders. He’s a nut job, but he’s still sharp. He’s sharp as--he’s the same guy he was. He hasn’t gone down. But Biden is really--he’s the worst thing to happen to old people," Trump continued, also addressing how then President Joe Biden ruined the Democratic Party. 

The 2024 election, where Biden was initially to be the nominee, only to be replaced by then Vice President Kamala Harris is one of many examples of how the party is in disarray. Democrats covered up for Biden so long, even when something was clearly wrong, and even gaslit the American people for daring to point it out. Then White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was particularly notorious, especially as she referred to video evidence of Biden's decline as "cheap fakes." Then came Biden's disastrous performance during his CNN debate against Trump on June 27 of last year, and he was forced out of the race less than a month later by his fellow Democrats, on July 21. 

The president again reiterated the problems Democrats are facing over Truth Social on Sunday afternoon. In posting the clip, he did so with the accompanying text of how, "THE DEMOCRATS ARE IN TOTAL DISARRAY!"

Speaking of polls, former Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost out to Trump last year--via the Electoral College and the popular vote--currently leads polls of potential Democratic nominees for 2028. She may also run for governor of California in 2026, though. We're still hearing about how she's making a decision. Given how poorly Harris did with her 2020 and 2024 campaigns, having failed to win a single primary vote in either of them, Republicans are among those cheering her on. Other far-leftists like the ones Trump mentioned, such as Crockett and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), as well as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), who has done the "Fighting Oligarchy" tour with Sanders, are also at the top of people's minds. Republicans welcome such names too, given how radical they all are, and how the entire country saw a rightward shift for the last election. 

Harris enjoys an average of 27.1 percent support, also according to Race to the WH, with AOC coming in third with an average of 12.9 percent. Sanders isn't mentioned. Harris' support may not be so solidified, though, as that same AtlasIntel poll showed former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg ahead of Harris, with 28 percent support to her 24 percent.

That poll, just as so many this year have shown before and since this one from April 10-14 was conducted, also showed plenty of warning signs for the Democratic Party.

Trump again mentioned Vance and Rubio as potential successors, though he and Welker both spoke to how it's only been about 100 days of Trump's second term. As he spoke first about Vance in that regard, though, especially given that he's serving as his vice president, and a moment later mentioned Rubio, he also mentioned that "I don't want to get involved in that."              

"There’s a lot of them that are great. I--I also see tremendous unity. But certainly you would say that somebody’s the VP, if that person is outstanding, I guess that person would have an advantage. But I think the other people would all stay in unbelievably high positions. But you know, it could be that he’d be challenged by somebody. We have a lot of good people in this party," he also added. 

Republicans are indeed united. That doesn't necessarily mean that there won't be a primary in 2028, though it will be interesting to see if Trump endorses a candidate between now and then, and if so, how much competition that person will have. Trump's been the nominee for three cycles in a row, though he did have to win crowded primaries in 2016 and 2024.

In contrast, this is one more way in which Democrats are "in total disarray." While 2028 is far away enough from now, the 2026 midterms are now about 18 months away, and Democrats aren't exactly popular, not even among members of their own party. When it comes to unity, Republicans certainly do look to have that advantage. 

The MAGA movement is also further relevant in how an increasing amount of Americans support such a moment. 

A March poll from NBC News showed an increasing amount of voters say they are "a supporter of the MAGA Movement," with that poll putting the number at 36 percent. The finding resurfaced last month as well.