Some of Vance's allies urge him to sit out 2028 after historic Republican midterm losses - report

Some allies have told the vice president no Republican can win in 2028, while major donors are already floating Ron DeSantis as an alternative, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Vice President JD Vance and his allies are privately debating whether he should run for president in 2028 after Republicans suffered sweeping losses in Tuesday’s midterm elections, The Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday, citing people close to him.

Some allies have told Vance they no longer believe any Republican can win the presidency in two years, and on Election Day, a longtime confidant texted him to consider sitting out the race, according to the report.

Vance has told associates he hasn’t made up his mind, six people close to him told WSJ.

Democrats flipped seven Republican Senate seats on Tuesday, including Vance’s former seat in Ohio, and won governorships in Georgia and Texas.

Within a day of the vote, a veteran New York fundraiser began hearing from major donors who said they could not back Vance and floated Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as an alternative, according to the report.

Vance calls for rethinking Israel relationship

In a lengthy essay posted on social media this week, Vance blamed the Iran war for the Republican losses and said the party needed to change its relationship with Israel. Republicans in Washington widely read the essay as a first step toward distancing himself from some of Trump’s unpopular policies, the Journal reported. Donald Trump Jr. publicly endorsed it.

People close to Vance told the newspaper the results were a rejection of the war rather than of Trump, and predicted the president’s coalition could be rebuilt once the conflict ends.

Vance’s private warnings on war with Iran

In January, as Trump weighed a major military operation, Vance privately urged him not to give up on diplomacy and began gathering polling on the risks of an all-out war, according to text messages viewed by WSJ. 

The results showed the public split 44% to 43% on going to war, but 62% said fewer than 100 US combat deaths would be acceptable, and 65% said Trump should seek congressional approval first.

Trump told the Journal he has not second-guessed the decision. “I did the right thing,” he said on election night. “I would have done it again.”

Can Vance still win the 2028 nomination?

Vance still holds significant advantages over potential rivals, including high name recognition, consistent leads in primary polling, and his role as finance chair of the Republican National Committee, which keeps him in regular contact with major donors.

But he also drew criticism during the campaign for attacks on Democratic candidates who went on to win, including calling Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed “a little weasel who should shut his mouth.”

Two people close to Vance suggested he run for his old Ohio Senate seat or for governor instead; he rejected both ideas, according to the report.

Trump has declined to endorse a successor. “Maybe he won’t run,” Trump said of Vance on Wednesday. “I don’t know who’s going to run.”

Vance himself acknowledged at a CBS News town hall in October that “there’s a chance” he never runs.