JD Vance’s camp has opened fire on the rival standing in the way of his 2028 dreams.
Although Vance, 41, has kept the door open to a presidential run and polls have consistently shown him as the Republican favorite, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has complicated the vice president’s path to the nomination by drawing encouragement from President Donald Trump and GOP donors.
Now, Vance’s circle is taking swings at Rubio, 55, even going so far as to declare that the secretary of state won’t be running.
One person whom the Daily Mail described as a “senior Vance camp source” told the outlet, “Rubio is a simply ridiculous candidate.”
“It’s very hard to run for president as secretary of state, because Iowa and New Hampshire are not foreign countries. Rubio is just hopelessly stuck in the world of 2005,” the source said.
Another person described as a “senior Vance insider” dismissed the significance of polling showing Rubio outperforming Vance among independent and swing voters in a general election.
“Many are hoping for the best of both worlds: Vance leading the ticket, Rubio as his VP. That’s the only way it works, and Rubio knows it,” the person told the Mail.
One source close to Vance said that Rubio has shown no signs of preparing for a 2028 campaign, pointing to his lack of the infrastructure needed for a national run.
“The institutional campaign, the things that get you ready for a primary, need to have already started performing, especially when you’re going up against the president’s machine,” the Vance insider said, adding that Rubio “has not even remotely set it up.”
“He’s not even moving,” the person continued. “You need state party leaders, you need endorsers, you need state party chairmen, and people who do the campaigning on the ground. You need a digital operation. You need a ground game.”
The person said that by contrast, Vance “has his own fundraising apparatus, his own major donors and small dollars, and he knows all the state party chairmen, who would always support him.”
Trump, however, has long floated both men as possible MAGA heirs, refusing to publicly pick a favorite and asking friends and advisers to compare the two.
A source close to Trump told the Mail that the president is “much closer to Marco,” saying the secretary of state “is the guy who’s talking sports with Trump—they just have a much better relationship, they’re a little closer in age, they’ve developed that camaraderie.”
Two Vance insiders took shots at Trump, suggesting he is afraid of losing his grip on the GOP spotlight.
One Vance insider argued that Trump will wait as long as possible before backing a candidate, “only because Trump does not want to make himself irrelevant” and “once he gives the endorsement away, the conversation is on the post-Trump presidency, and he becomes a lame duck.”
Another source in Vance’s camp said, “Trump would like Rubio to run because Trump wants there to be some kind of a close contest where it’s like an exciting episode of The Apprentice.”
An Emerson College poll in May found Vance narrowly leading the Republican field with 36 percent support, followed closely by Rubio at 35 percent. However, a Daily Mail-commissioned poll found Vance drawing 51 percent support among Republican primary voters compared with Rubio’s 15 percent.
A spokesperson for Vance repeated the vice president’s familiar line that he is focused solely on serving in his current role.
“Vice President Vance’s only focus is being the best Vice President he can be for the American people, serving under President Trump’s historic leadership and delivering on his America First agenda,” the spokesperson told the Mail.
Vance’s office, the State Department, and the White House did not immediately respond to the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
