Vance or Rubio: Trump polls White House dinner attendees on 2028 race

US President Donald Trump jokingly floated a potential 2028 Republican ticket featuring Vice President J. D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calling them a “dream team” while insisting he had not officially endorsed either candidate 

Washington: US President Donald Trump sought to project Vice President J D Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a perfect team for the presidential elections in 2028.

“Is it gonna be JD? Is it gonna be someone else? I don’t know,” Trump said while hosting a dinner for law enforcement leaders across the country in the Rose Garden on Monday evening.

---

The president then went on to conduct an impromptu poll, drawing laughter from the attendees.

“Who likes JD Vance?” and “Who likes Marco Rubio?”, he asked as attendees cheered for their favourite choice.

“Sounds like a good ticket,” Trump added, clarifying that neither candidate has his endorsement.  “That was a perfect ticket. By the way, I do believe that’s a dream team, but these are minor details. That does not mean you have my endorsement under any circumstance.” “I think it sounds like presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate,” the president said.

Trump is known to put up the Vance-Rubio question to his close circles in the administration, in a bid to gauge the mood.

Vance, a first-term Senator from Ohio, was selected by Trump as his running mate in the 2024 presidential election.

Rubio had thrown his hat in the presidential elections ring in 2016, but withdrew from the race after losing to Trump in the Republican primary.

A three-term Senator from Florida, Rubio joined the Trump administration as Secretary of State in 2025.