Vance: Trump “very supportive” as vice president moves closer to 2028 decision

Vice President JD Vance says that he and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, will discuss whether he should seek the 2028 Republican presidential nomination later this year, following the 2026 midterms. While he has not yet decided about entering the GOP race, Vance told “CBS Sunday Morning” that he expects President Donald Trump to be “very supportive” of whatever Vance decides to do regarding the next campaign for the White House.

“I have no doubt that the president of the United States is going to be very supportive of anything that I ultimately decide to do,” Vance said. “But we really just haven’t talked about what that thing will be.”

For now, Vance said his political future is not top of mind, remarking he is not “sitting around figuring out whether I’m going to run for president.

“Usha and I will absolutely sit down and talk about what comes next for our family,” he said, adding that it will be after the results of the 2026 midterms elections. “The way I make decisions is, I try not to make them until I absolutely must.”

Vance noted in the interview that he never initiates discussions of his future plans with the president: “I never bring it up. But sure, the president brings it up a lot, sometimes publicly, sometimes privately. You know, the president’s a political animal. He loves this stuff. He’s very fascinated by it.”

Asked whether Mr. Trump is encouraging Vance to seek the GOP nomination, Vance replied, “It’s not positive or negative. It’s just … he kind of talks about it, like, ‘What’s gonna happen,’ you know? ‘How do we make sure that we’re successful? What does that mean for the future?’ It’s more of a conversation like that.

“So, we talk about it, but not in any great detail,” he said. “Because, again, I think both of us are focused on the here-and-now.”

Vance added, “I really don’t ever want my thought about a future job, whether it’s president or anything else, to make me a worse vice president. And the way to do that is to keep my attention on the job I have right now.”

Vance is perhaps the most prominent of those Republicans widely seen within the party as potential 2028 contenders. Others mentioned by GOP insiders as possible prospects include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and a slew of U.S. senators and conservative figures, from Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), to media personalities such as Tucker Carlson.

Vance represented Ohio for two years in the U.S. Senate before Mr. Trump picked him as his running mate in 2024. Prior to that, he served in the United States Marine Corps, and earned his law degree from Yale Law School. In 2016, he wrote a bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.” 

He is releasing a new memoir this week about his conversion to Catholicism, called, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.”

His remarks on the 2028 race were part of an interview taped last Tuesday at the vice presidential residence, which aired on “CBS Sunday Morning” June 14. To watch the interview with JD and Usha Vance, click on the video below.

     
For more info:

• “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith” by JD Vance (Harper), in Hardcover, Large Print Trade Paperback, eBook and Audio formats, available June 16 via Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Bookshop.org
• Vice President JD Vance