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Since President Trump’s triumphant return in November 2024 — and it was a victory, with Trump winning all seven swing states and the popular vote — Democrats have responded by leaning toward the hard left, electing a radical mayor in New York City, attempting to take away purple Virginia with a crazy-crowded congressional map (which the state Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional), and as their nominee in Maine on Tuesday. Nominated the radical (and deeply troubled) Graham Plattner. Facing off against moderate and widely admired Senator Susan Collins, chair of the Senate’s powerful Appropriations Committee.
Radical candidates are also expected to emerge as the party’s Senate candidates in Michigan and Minnesota. A hostile takeover of the broken glass of the Democratic Party by the “Democratic Socialists of America” seems inevitable.
With the Democrats getting the best of the internal civil war between socialists and far-left liberals, where will the GOP turn after President Trump?
Doug Schon: Democratic Battle Pits Moderates Vs. Progressive for the soul of the party
Vice President J.D. Vance should be considered the front-runner for party leader and 2028 nominee, but current veeps do not accept the nomination except in extraordinary circumstances, such as the one Democrats faced in 2024 when Vice President Harris was handed the nomination when President Joe Biden’s physical and mental infirmities became so obvious that they could not be ignored.
Looking back to 1988, there’s current Vice President George H.W. Bush, who had to fight Senator Robert Dole for the GOP nomination in 1988. Four years ago, former Vice President Walters Mondale faced a challenge from Senator Gary Hart. More recently, incumbent VP Al Gore did not receive the nomination after loyal service as President Bill Clinton’s No. 2. He had to face and defeat Senator Bill Bradley to receive the Democratic nomination in 2000.
Then again, the rule is that Vice Presidents have to fight through primaries to win their parties’ nomination for president, and Kamala Harris is an exception to that rule. Look how it turned out. When primary elections are contested, parties emerge stronger.
So even if Vice President Vance seeks President Trump’s position, he will have to expect challenges in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and beyond. While it is widely expected that President Trump will support his hand-picked #2, the 2027 debates – and there should be several – and the 2028 caucuses and primaries should be exciting affairs as the “era of Trump” comes to an end.
Vance in ‘catbird seat’ for 2028 GOP presidential nomination, but these Republicans could also run
President Trump and his message of “Make America Great Again” have dominated the Republican Party since the summer of 2015, when Trump systematically defeated every Republican opponent in a crowded field one by one. Trump sidelined all challengers from within the GOP in 2024, choosing not to even get on a debate stage with them.
There will be no such influential person for further Republican races in 2028. Most GOP observers expect at least four contenders not to take Vance’s name: Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is set for another run. Popular outgoing Governor Brian Kemp of Georgia and former Governor Glenn Youngkin of Virginia have been widely said to be setting up their campaigns. Mike Pompeo, the former Secretary of State and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency in President Trump’s first term, is also expected to join the field, drawing on his career as an illustrious West Point and Harvard Law School graduate and years as a member of Congress from Kansas.
There’s the obvious quartet of challengers to Vance, and then there are talented and ambitious senators like Ted Cruz of Texas and David McCormick of Pennsylvania. Suddenly we have seven very qualified candidates debating about the future of the country, and that doesn’t include members of the president’s Cabinet who have run for office before and may run for re-election: Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum.
President Trump could endorse VP Vance – or Secretary Rubio or anyone else – and put his considerable political weight behind them. No one knows and it is highly doubtful that the President himself would know. He has said many times that the Vance-Rubio ticket will be tremendous and it will be.
What is not is “inevitable”. GOP primary voters aren’t scheduled to actually start voting until January 2028. Would they like a “reversal to the mean” of GOP politics and issues? Would they like a candidate who can support what President Trump has done in every aspect or a candidate who can choose between the Trump record?
When the GOP convention gathers in any city nominated by President Trump there will almost certainly be an inauguration night slot for President Trump. Their energy will be needed no matter who the nominee is, as there are millions of voters who are three-time Trump voters who wanted the Constitution not to bar them from a fourth opportunity to vote.
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However, parties are a permanent fixture of American political life. They evolve and change, and the GOP of 2028 will be fundamentally different from those of 2000, 2012, and even 2024. Its voters may want a change in style or content or both. As Democrats increasingly distance themselves from the left edge of the American political spectrum with anti-American, anti-free market radicals, Republicans may very well collectively decide to move toward the rhetoric and style of the broad middle of the American ethos and more traditional conservative political positions.
The quiet rumblings you’re hearing are GOP presidential campaigns organizing. We see clear positions among the Democrats, from Kamala Harris to Congressman Ro Khanna and Senator Chris Murphy. They can afford to be outspoken and outspoken.
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Republicans must be much more prudent in their first steps because it is now the party of President Trump. But as the clock runs out on their second terms, every Republican office holder from the Senate to city councils across the country has a stake in nominating a winner in 2028. The GOP games won’t start until the World Cup is over and probably not until December this year.
But they will begin before the end of the year, and it will be the most interesting primary season since 2016, and that was an upheaval, a political earthquake that changed American politics for a dozen years. Republicans may be in a mood to find a middle path. Perhaps.
Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor and host.Hugh Hewitt Show” is heard on the Salem Radio Network from 3pm to 6pm ET on weekday afternoons, and is simulcast on the Salem News Channel. Hugh takes Americans home on the East Coast and out to lunch on the West Coast with more than 400 colleagues across the country, and on all streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on Fox News Channel’s News Roundtable, hosted by Brett Baier weeknights. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan, Hewitt has been a law professor at Chapman University, where he teaches constitutional law in 1990. Hewitt has appeared frequently on every major national news television network, hosting television shows for PBS and MSNBC. He has written a dozen books and moderated several Republican presidential debates in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015–2016 cycle. Hewitt has focused his radio shows and his columns on the Constitution, American politics, and the Republican Party during his 40 years in broadcasting. Has interviewed thousands of guests ranging from Republican President George W. Bush to Donald Trump. This column previews the main story that will lead to his radio/TV show today.
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