According to the latest reports, Ken Griffin — a prominent Republican donor who spent upwards of $100 million on the last election — has decided who to back in the 2028 presidential race.
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Ken Griffiin is famously anti-MAGA, and this latest news represents a growing tide of Republicans who are backing Marco Rubio rather than Vance, the latter of whom was once considered the heir apparent to President Donald Trump but whose star has fallen in recent months.
Griffin’s intentions were revealed during the annual Allen & Company conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, where the billionaire hedge fund manager told financial journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin he was “predisposed” to support Rubio, whom he backed previously during the 2016 GOP primary. Notably, Griffin donated neither to President Donald Trump’s campaign nor his MAGA Inc. super PAC during the 2024 election, instead throwing his money and platform behind former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.
Neither of the current White House officials has officially thrown their hat into the ring, and according to the Hill, “Vance and Rubio have repeatedly deflected regarding whether they will run to succeed the term-limited Trump in 2028 — with the latter telling Vanity Fair last year he will defer to Vance if the vice president seeks the nomination…Trump has not explicitly endorsed a candidate, with roughly 18 months to go before the Iowa Republican caucuses. But he said last month a Vance-Rubio ticket would be formidable for their Democratic opponents.”
While most polls show Vance firmly in the lead on the question of who will take the GOP nomination in 2028, Republican insiders have spoken of a “shadow” effort to get Rubio elected since early this year. At the same time, Vance experienced a string of high-profile embarrassments, arguably the most looming being the troubled negotiations for peace with Iran that he helmed and fumbled initially. And while he was getting hammered by bad headlines, Rubio was enjoying favorable press and assignments as he accompanied Trump to UFC fights and flew off to make nice with the Pope. As a result, there has been growing buzz around his candidacy.
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Some in the Republican Party, however, say that Rubio’s 2028 chances have been overstated.
W. James Antle III of the American Conservative, for example, wrote, of Rubio “being feted as a throwback to pre-Trump Republicanism, which is also why he is currently being overrated for 2028. That’s not to say that a Rubio nomination can’t happen. There are, however, some roadblocks that are being widely ignored in favor of viral clips that make people misty-eyed for the return of Ronald Reagan.” He thinks Rubio will be unable to walk the “tightrope” between MAGA and those who want to see a “major departure” from Trump. Rubio has also been linked to the disastrous war with Iran, and he’s never fared well in a national election.
Conservative commentator Ann Coulter was more unvarnished in her assessment of Rubio, saying he was a “half-wit” whose presidency would be an “unmitigated disaster.”
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