Republican leaders who made it possible for President Trump to return to power this fall when Charlie Kirk was killed by an assassin.
Now, the organization is rallying behind Vice President J.D. Vance.
Turning Point USA, which has no interest in a competitive 2028 Republican primary, plans to deploy representatives to 99 Iowa counties in the coming months to build electoral infrastructure that could hand Vance, a Midwesterner from suburban Ohio, a decisive victory and short-circuit a tight Republican race, the people said.
It’s the latest move in a quiet effort by some in the Trump administration to wipe out a powerful competitor. Earlier this month, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who had previously been considered by President Trump as a candidate, appeared to be withdrawing himself from the race.
“If Vance were to run for president, he would be our candidate, and I would be one of the first to support him,” Rubio told Vanity Fair.
After Kirk’s widow Erica attended Turning Point USA’s annual conference in Arizona last week, a straw poll of attendees found 84% supported Vance in the upcoming primary. But broader polling paints a different picture.
A CNN poll conducted in early December found that Vance had a 22% approval rating for the Republican Party through 2028, while other potential candidates, including Rubio and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, were all in the single digits.
The remaining 64% told pollsters they had “no specific person in mind,” reflecting an open field with plenty of room for others to gain support.
A recent Gallup poll found that 91% of Republicans approve of Vance’s job performance as vice president, an encouraging number heading into the partisan primary, but only 39% of Americans across party lines view the vice president’s role positively, exposing him to potential challenges if he wins the nomination.
Potential presidential candidates on both sides of the political spectrum are expected to assess their chances next year after the November midterm elections and before the primary season officially begins.
Vance concluded the Turning Point USA conference with a call for party unity amid growing tensions among right-wing influencers over politics within the Republican Party.
“President Trump did not build his greatest coalition in politics by subjecting his supporters to endless, self-defeating purity tests,” Vance said. “All Americans are invited: white or black, rich or poor, young or old, rural or urban, controversial or a little boring, or anything in between.”
Charlie Kirk added: “I trust you to make your own decisions, and we have far more important things to do than canceling each other.”
Vance’s comments drew criticism from some on the right, who said they appeared to be condoning bias within the party. The vice president himself has faced racist rhetoric, with far-right podcaster Nick Fuentes, who praised Adolf Hitler, repeatedly attacking Vance’s wife and children because they are of Indian descent.
“Let me be clear: Anyone who attacks my wife, whether their name is Jen Psaki or Nick Fuentes, gets dinner,” he said last week, referring to President Biden’s former press secretary. “That is my official policy as Vice President of the United States.”
In the same interview, Vance praised Tucker Carlson, another far-right podcaster who has defended Fuentes on free speech grounds, as “a friend of mine,” and said he supports Vance as Trump’s running mate in 2024.
President Trump has repeatedly floated Vance as a potential successor without explicitly endorsing his nomination, calling him “very capable” and the party’s “best potential.”
“He’s the vice president,” Trump said in August. “Certainly he’s doing a great job and will probably be favored at this point.”
Some of President Trump’s most ardent supporters are pushing him to seek a third term in 2028, despite the provisions of the 22nd Amendment.
President Trump himself said the Constitution appears to be clear on this issue. But Steve Bannon, the architect of Trump’s historic 2016 campaign and one of Trump’s first White House strategists, continues to advocate a path forward for reelection, reportedly disparaging Vance as “not tough enough” to lead the party to victory.
“He knows he can never run again,” Susie Wiles, the president’s chief of staff, told Vanity Fair in a recent profile. “That’s pretty clear.”
She added that Trump, who will be 82 when he plans to leave office, has told Wiles “on several occasions” that a third term is not possible.
Alan Dershowitz, a prominent constitutional law professor who served as Mr. Trump’s lawyer during his Senate impeachment trial, recently presented Mr. Trump with a roadmap to a third term during a meeting in the Oval Office, which Mr. Trump plans to unveil in a new book scheduled for release next year.
Even he skipped the meeting believing that Trump would pass another bid.
“This is my conclusion based on what he has said publicly,” Dershowitz told the Times.
“He’s said in the past that it’s too cute,” he added.
