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Trump says Vance, Rubio could be 2028 ‘dream team’ ticket

by Ashleigh Fields - 05/11/26 9:11 PM ET

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by Ashleigh Fields - 05/11/26 9:11 PM ET

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President Trump on Monday floated Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a “dream team” ahead of the 2028 presidential election, polling attendees of a White House event on who they liked better and stopping short of offering an endorsement.

“Who likes J.D. Vance? Who likes Marco Rubio? All right. Sounds like a good ticket.

J.D. is a perfect — That was a perfect ticket,” Trump said during a dinner in the Rose Garden with law enforcement officials in honor of National Police Week.

“By the way, I do believe that’s a dream team. But these are minor details. That does not mean you have my endorsement under any circumstance. But you know … I think it sounds like presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate,” he added.

Political strategists and observers have repeatedly questioned whether Trump would endorse Vance over Rubio or urge the two to run together on the same ticket.

Rubio launched a presidential bid back in 2016 but suspended his campaign after losing the primary to Trump.

He returned to the Senate, where he served before joining the second Trump administration.

Vance was in the middle of his first term in the upper chamber before Trump recruited him to join his presidential ticket.

The two have been heavily questioned about their intentions for 2028, but neither has shared intent to launch a presidential campaign. Instead, they’ve said their goal is to focus on the work of the current administration.

But in December, Rubio told Vanity Fair that he would be “one of the first people to support” Vance if the vice president eventually ran for the White House.

The president, however, has continued to gauge the public response to both of the high-ranking administration officials.

“It’s very Trump to constantly do a pulse check on how folks feel about Marco versus Vance. That is very much in the president’s DNA, to get a sense of where donors are and politicos and even folks in the media,” GOP strategist Brian Seitchik previously said.

“The president is always evaluating and comparing, and he’s well aware also that, by nature, those types of questions generate competition, which anyone who’s watched ‘The Apprentice’ knows he values,” said Seitchik, who worked on Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns.

Trump has spoken highly of Vance and Rubio, who has been tasked with serving as acting national security adviser, among other roles in the administration.

In March, the president told reporters, “Marco Rubio is doing a great job. I think he’s going to go down as the greatest secretary of State in history. He’s been successful no matter where he’s been.”

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