Who Will Be the 2028 Republican Presidential Nominee

The list of Republicans weighing 2028 presidential bids is growing as President Trump's approval ratings decline and Democrats appear favored for a strong showing in the November midterms. Sen. John Kennedy recently joined a field that already includes former Gov. Chris Christie, Sen. Rand Paul, Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Ted Cruz, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and possibly Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. Some hopefuls are positioning themselves to inherit the MAGA base, including Donald Trump Jr., who denies interest but polls strongly among hypothetical candidates. Others, like Christie, are distancing themselves from Trump's legacy, arguing Vice President J.D. Vance would be hurt by association with an unpopular administration.

Polling shows Vance still leads the GOP field but has lost ground, with Trump Jr. gaining support. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also draw notable backing, while Nikki Haley says she won't run. Cruz and Vance have publicly sparred, with most contenders waiting on midterm results before deciding.

Republican Rep. Derrick Van Orden is running for reelection in Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District by embracing President Trump rather than distancing himself, betting that energizing the conservative base outweighs risks from Trump's sagging approval ratings, the Iran war, and economic worries. He faces a rematch with Democrat Rebecca Cooke, whom he beat by less than 3 points in 2022. The historically bellwether district, carried by both Obama and Trump in past elections, is a top Democratic pickup target this cycle.

Van Orden has voted with Trump nearly 100% of the time, hosted top administration officials in his district, and drawn Elon Musk-linked PAC spending on his behalf. Cooke, backed by both moderate and progressive Democrats including Bernie Sanders, argues Van Orden's close alignment with an unpopular president is a liability, while Van Orden has also faced criticism for AI-generated videos attacking Cooke. Both candidates are courting independents and frustrated voters as the race is seen as pivotal to control of the House.

A politically diverse coalition — including Bernie Sanders, Steve Bannon, and lawmakers from both parties — gathered in Washington, D.C. for a "Pro-Human Assembly" calling for guardrails on artificial intelligence development. Republican Rep. Chip Roy and Democratic Rep. Greg Casar both warned against unchecked AI growth, citing constituent concerns over data centers, jobs, and competition with rivals like China. Rep. Lori Trahan touted her bipartisan FRONTIER Act, which would create independent evaluators for frontier AI models.

The event follows AI researcher Jacob Coxon's public resignation from Anthropic over safety concerns, and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's call for developers to slow down, echoed by OpenAI's Sam Altman and Elon Musk. President Trump has dismissed AI risk concerns as a "hoax," insisting strong leadership is sufficient safeguard, while Vice President JD Vance struck a more cautious tone. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Trump will meet AI executives at the White House soon. CBS polling shows most Americans doubt government oversight of AI will be adequate and expect job losses from the technology.

Dallas is emerging as a hub of capital-markets activity, with a flurry of funding rounds, IPO preparations, and dealmaking underscoring the city's growing role in finance beyond its traditional oil and gas base. Coverage from Bloomberg's Texas Edition highlights how banks including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, and Citigroup are increasingly active in the region as companies tap capital markets for growth in sectors ranging from aerospace to data centers.

The report also touches on geopolitical undercurrents affecting Texas-linked business interests, including tensions tied to Venezuela and Cuba, with references to nationalization risk facing firms like Sherritt International and Chevron amid political dynamics in Caracas. Political figures such as Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Senator John Cornyn feature in the broader narrative of Texas's economic and political positioning. For prediction markets, the trend signals rising deal flow and IPO activity in a major U.S. financial hub outside the traditional Wall Street corridor, with implications for market sentiment around regional finance and energy-sector geopolitical risk.

Utah GOP Sen. John Curtis has called for a Senate Judiciary Committee investigation into Donald Trump Jr. following reports that Russian oligarch Umar Kremlev, a Putin ally, paid hundreds of thousands of dollars toward Trump Jr.'s Bahamas wedding afterparty, including renting a private island and a fireworks display. Curtis sent a letter to Sens. Chuck Grassley and Dick Durbin urging subpoenas for both Trump Jr. and Hunter Biden to examine "use of presidential family relationships for private financial benefit."

Curtis's letter also cited the Trump family's cryptocurrency venture World Liberty Financial, Trump Jr.'s defense-sector investments, and his board seat at prediction market company Kalshi as areas raising conflict-of-interest concerns. He linked the scrutiny to a separate $500 million UAE investment in World Liberty Financial ahead of Trump's inauguration, after which chip-export restrictions to UAE-linked firms were loosened. Curtis argued that congressional oversight standards should apply consistently regardless of which party controls the White House.

Alabama's redrawn 2nd Congressional District has become one of the nation's most closely watched House races. Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures, who won the seat in 2024 when it was a Black-opportunity district, now faces Republican state Rep. Rhett Marques after a court-ordered redistricting process made the district whiter, more rural, and carried by Trump by roughly 14 points in 2024. That shift makes Marques the favorite, but handicappers like Cook Political Report and Sabato's Crystal Ball still rate the race "likely" or merely "lean" Republican rather than safe.

Turnout among Black voters in Montgomery, the district's largest population center, is seen as decisive for Figures, while Marques leans on the heavily Republican Wiregrass region and an endorsement from Sen. Katie Britt. Figures leads in cash on hand despite similar overall fundraising totals. One recent partisan poll showed the race tied. Analysts say the outcome could help determine whether Democrats retake the House and could expand a bloc of Southern Republicans elected under newly redrawn, less minority-protective maps.

An AI-manipulated image showing Iowa Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand wearing a large mask and face shield has circulated widely on social media since at least July, amplified in a September 1 Facebook post by Republican nominee Zach Lahn. Lahn shared the image alongside clips from a podcast appearance in which he criticized Sand, Iowa's state auditor, as an "East Coast elitist."

Fact-checkers traced the photo to an unaltered original published by the Iowa Capital Dispatch in July, showing Sand without any mask or face shield while meeting cancer-advocacy group representatives in Des Moines. OpenAI's image-verification tool detected a SynthID watermark in the altered version, confirming AI manipulation. Sand's campaign called the image fake.

Lahn, who has aligned with vaccine-skeptic rhetoric and attacked Sand over past pandemic-era mask support, is locked in a tight race to succeed term-limited Republican Governor Kim Reynolds in the reliably red state.

Maine's Senate race between five-term Republican incumbent Susan Collins and Democratic state Senate President Troy Jackson has become a referendum on Collins herself, with polls showing a tight contest. Jackson, a logger-turned-legislator who entered the race after primary winner Graham Platner withdrew amid sexual assault allegations he denies, has hammered Collins over economic anxieties, heating costs, and a ProPublica report on a past FBI bribery inquiry she denies wrongdoing in. Collins has leaned on her record steering federal funding to Maine and warns her seniority loss would hurt the state. A debate exchange over road-salt tariff exemptions went viral, encapsulating the race's focus on her decades-long incumbency rather than Jackson's own candidacy.

With midterms weeks away, potential 2028 contenders Andy Beshear and Donald Trump Jr. campaigned separately in Iowa college towns, underscoring the state's enduring role as a testing ground for presidential hopefuls even though Democrats have stripped it of its early-primary status. Beshear, stumping in Ames for gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand, urged Democrats to drop "advocacy speak" in favor of plain talk, arguing that governor's races this cycle will determine whether Iowa is competitive for Democrats in 2028. Trump Jr., appearing at a packed Turning Point USA event in Iowa City, warned against a Democratic "dystopian communist hellhole," though some attendees said the tone clashed with the spirit of the late Charlie Kirk.

Both men remain long-shot contenders in early 2028 polling — Beshear trails in the Democratic field, while Trump Jr. lags behind Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio among Republicans. Vance also recently visited Iowa to support GOP candidates, signaling the invisible primary is already underway.

Retiring Sen. John Cornyn has drawn criticism for publicly disparaging fellow Republican Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general who defeated him in the GOP primary runoff, calling Paxton's campaign lazy and poorly funded. The remarks have raised concern among Republicans about maintaining the Texas Senate seat against Democratic nominee James Talarico, a state representative whose progressive positions on gender, abortion and systemic inequality have made him a target for conservative critics.

Talarico has significantly outraised Paxton in campaign funding, drawing comparisons to Beto O'Rourke's costly but unsuccessful 2018 Senate bid against Ted Cruz. Recent polling has shown the race closer than expected for a reliably red state, with Talarico holding a narrow edge. Texas Democrats have not won a statewide race since the 1990s. The contest is being watched closely as a factor in which party controls the Senate for the remainder of President Trump's term, with critics urging Cornyn to redirect his criticism toward Talarico and support Paxton's campaign.