Secretary of State Marco Rubio has enjoyed a surge in support from within President Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, so much so that a “Draft Rubio” in 2028 campaign is emerging, according to a report.
The former senator was the face of the administration’s operation to remove Nicolas Maduro from power in Venezuela in January and has played a key messaging role in the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran.
While Rubio ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination in 2016 and gave as good as he got on the campaign trail in a vicious exchange of personal insults, he has since emerged as one of the most loyal members of the cabinet.
In addition to leading the State Department, Rubio is also serving as Trump’s acting national security adviser and acting director of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that Rubio is so keen to oblige the president that he appears prepared to wear leather Florsheim Oxford dress shoes gifted to him by Trump, despite them being uncomfortably large for him.
According to ABC News, his dedicated service has not gone unnoticed by the president, who has been noting in private how “popular” and “loved” his secretary has become and even reportedly asked a group of donors at Mar-a-Lago last month whether they preferred him to Vice President JD Vance, long felt to be in pole position to be Trump’s successor.
The WSJ reported last summer that Trump was in the habit of playing Vance and Rubio off against each other over who might succeed him, rather than explicitly endorsing either man.
“Which one of you is going to be at the top of the ticket?” he is said to have asked them. “I used to think it would be Vance-Rubio, but maybe it will be Rubio-Vance.”
However, a senior Republican strategist struck a note of caution, telling ABC: “Donors don’t pick the nominee – the base picks. Donors tried to abandon President Trump and tried to pick [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis, and we all saw how that went.”
White House Communications Director Steven Cheung also moved quickly to try to shut down talks of a Rubio-Vance rivalry, telling ABC, “The president has assembled an all-star team that has achieved unprecedented success in just over one year.
“No amount of crazed media speculation about Vice President Vance and Secretary Rubio will deter this administration’s mission of fighting for the American people.”
While Rubio has been at the forefront of Operation Epic Fury against Iran and was pictured with Trump at Mar-a-Lago on February 28, overseeing the initial stages of the mission from a makeshift “Situation Room,” Vance cut an isolated figure manning the real thing in Washington.
The VP had previously expressed his opposition to military intervention on Iran and has been nowhere near as prominent as Rubio – or more hawkish GOP figures like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham – in championing the airstrikes.
Vance has been criticized by the likes of “Trump whisperer” Laura Loomer for continuing to associate with conservative pundit Tucker Carlson, another non-interventionist, whom the president has complained has “lost his way.”
A prolonged engagement with Iran could backfire on Rubio, given the unpopularity of the conflict and public unease about the administration’s lack of clarity on its purpose and probable duration. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth could equally find himself the fall guy if the backlash develops.
Just 29 percent of Americans are currently in favor of the operation, according to an Ipsos poll, with 43 percent opposed and 26 percent unsure.
For his part, Rubio has pledged his theoretical support for Vance’s candidacy should he choose to run for the White House, telling Vanity Fair last year: “If JD Vance runs for president, he’s going to be our nominee, and I’ll be one of the first people to support him.”
As it stands, a recent NBC News poll indicated that a majority of registered voters are negative toward both men, with 49 percent disliking Vance and 41 percent opposing Rubio.
A recent Real Clear Polling analysis meanwhile gives the secretary of state an 18.8 percent chance of winning the 2028 presidential election ahead of California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom (18.5 percent), and Vance (17.3 percent).
The same outlet sees Vance as more likely than Rubio to win the Republican primary – meaning he may never get the chance to run nationally – putting the VP on 45 percent, the president’s eldest son Donald Trump Jr second on 17.5 percent, Rubio at 11.1 percent, and the aforementioned DeSantis on 7.4 percent.
