A recent all-star week for Secretary of State Marco Rubio is fueling fresh chatter about a 2028 presidential bid. But insiders in the orbit of President Donald Trump aren’t jumping on the bandwagon just yet.
Rubio’s May 5 appearance in the White House briefing room ignited a wave of praise across conservative media and Trumpworld. Rubio, 54, made his debut as a stand-in for White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, who was on maternity leave. Rubio made history as the first sitting secretary of state to conduct a White House press briefing.
Rubio, at the White House podium, addressed a range of national security issues, such as the Iranian blockade in the Strait of Hormuz, which he condemned as “illegal” and “unacceptable.” He also jokingly cited the “chaotic” atmosphere of the briefing room. At one point, he responded to a reporter, “You can ask me two questions, I’ll give you one answer, and I’ll pick the one I like better.”
The Miami-born Rubio, whose parents are from Cuba, also won praise in some quarters for seamlessly switching to Spanish when asked a question in that language.
Rubio’s turn at the White House podium fueled speculation that the former 2016 presidential candidate may be emerging as a serious contender for the GOP’s post-Trump future. Though Rubio, also acting national security adviser, would presumably have to get through Vice President JD Vance for the 2028 Republican nomination.
Dennis Lennox, a Republican strategist based in battleground Michigan, told the Washington Examiner that “nobody who isn’t being paid to say otherwise watched Rubio’s presser and didn’t think, ‘Can’t we make him president right now?’”
Yet even many Republicans fueling the excitement acknowledge it’s unclear whether the momentum reflects a genuine shift in the GOP’s 2028 landscape, or the political world simply getting carried away after a strong media performance.
“Sometimes it’s Rubio’s day. Sometimes it’s the vice president’s day. Sometimes they’ll be onstage together,” a former senior White House official told the Washington Examiner. “The only constant is dealing with the media trying to make a mountain out of a molehill.”
Republicans say Tuesday’s briefing crystallized something already brewing inside MAGA: a growing belief that Rubio has evolved from an establishment-minded Florida senator once mocked by Trump as “Little Marco” into a polished messenger for America First.
“I just think [2028] is Rubio’s time,” one veteran Republican operative, who worked on two of Trump’s presidential campaigns, told the Washington Examiner. “That’s not a knock against the vice president. I just think — when you compare Rubio from yesterday to where he was in 2016, debating President Trump, he’s like a totally different person. He’s gotten his hands dirty. He’s showing what MAGA can be after Trump. He’s ready.”
2028 field slowly begins to gel
The renewed attention on Rubio has also coincided with movement in prediction markets. In the hours after Rubio’s White House podium appearance, he overtook Vice President JD Vance and Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) on Kalshi as the most likely winner of the 2028 presidential election. However, Polymarket still gives Vance better odds of winning, with Rubio in a close third behind Newsom.
Even college football legend Urban Meyer, a close friend and supporter of Trump, joined what one former Trump White House official jokingly described as the “Marco love-fest.” On Wednesday, Meyer posted a clip from Rubio’s briefing in which the secretary outlined his “hope for America.”
“My hope for America is what it’s always been,” Rubio said in the one-minute video. “I think it’s the hope, I hope, we all share. We want it to continue to be the place where anyone from anywhere can achieve anything, where you’re not limited by the circumstances of your birth, by the color of your skin, by your ethnicity, but frankly, it’s a place where you are able to overcome challenges and achieve your full potential.”
Rubio’s government X account posted the same exchange, with some enhanced graphic work, granting the clip a campaign ad-esque feel.
But even as Rubio dominated the conversation this week, a longtime, out-of-government adviser to Trump told the Washington Examiner that one good press briefing was unlikely to seal the 2028 GOP nomination for any candidate. Instead, the adviser said Trump would make his own decision on who to back.
“Nobody at the White House is sitting down and tracking who got better coverage on any given day, and President Trump certainly isn’t letting social media influence who he’ll eventually pick as his successor when he leaves office,” the adviser said.
“He’s been abundantly clear there — JD and Marco, Marco and JD,” they added. “You put those two on the ticket, and it’s eight more years of Republicans in the White House.”
RUBIO’S WHITE HOUSE MOMENT OFFERS GLIMPSE OF AMERICA FIRST AFTER TRUMP
Still, 2028 predictions at this point are wildly early. Republicans face strong political headwinds ahead of the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Trump’s approval rating is falling consistently as gas prices rise, and the Iran war remains unresolved, among other national challenges.
Moreover, in recent decades, the White House has largely fluctuated between the two parties. It’s a cycle that has accelerated in recent years, with eight years under former President Barack Obama followed by Trump’s first term. Democratic President Joe Biden served for a single, four-year term, only to be followed by the return of his predecessor, Trump.
Christian Datoc (@TocRadio) is a White House reporter for the Washington Examiner.
