The 2028 Republican primary did not wait for the dust to settle from the midterms.
One of the original members of the House Freedom Caucus is already going on the record with his choice for president — and he is not lining up behind Vice
President JD Vance.
Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana says he is "all in" for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, calling the Trump administration heavyweight someone who can bring the party together after a brutal election night.
Vance offered his own blunt diagnosis of the Republican losses, arguing that party strategists focused too much on whether the electorate resembled 2024 and missed voters who had turned against the GOP.
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was…
— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 4, 2026
Fox News reports that Stutzman made the endorsement while urging Republicans to rethink how they communicate with voters after losing control of Congress. He described Rubio as a potential unifier and said the party must begin the work of rebuilding now, not after the next presidential campaign is already underway.
Stutzman also argued that Republicans should take credit for closing the border while changing the next phase of their immigration message. His proposal would emphasize work visas — without citizenship — for people in the country illegally who are otherwise obeying the law.
That is a significant marker from a Freedom Caucus conservative. Rubio has spent years moving between the party's establishment and America First wings, and Stutzman is now betting that experience can become an asset instead of a liability.
Vance, meanwhile, remains the natural early favorite. He has the vice presidency, deep support in the MAGA movement and a close relationship with the Trump family.
Donald Trump Jr. immediately amplified Vance's post-election argument.
Every word of this is 💯💯💯 https://t.co/EigF8EQYXU
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) November 4, 2026
Axios reports that Vance blamed the Iran war for the losses and identified four demands he believes disaffected Trump voters are making: end the war, confront the cost of living, put America First and reconsider the nation's relationship with Israel. President Trump publicly said Vance's post was fine, although the message surprised some people inside the White House.
That places Rubio and Vance on opposite sides of the most immediate Republican argument. Vance is presenting himself as the man who understands why parts of the MAGA coalition walked away.
Rubio's supporters will make the case that the party now needs discipline, experience and a candidate capable of holding its competing factions together.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich sees the size of the defeat as enough to blow the nomination race open. He argued that a Republican victory would have made Vance look inevitable, but the election changed that calculation.
The scale of the Republican defeat is so great that it makes the race for the GOP presidential nomination wide open.
— Newt Gingrich (@newtgingrich) November 4, 2026
If the administration had won a big victory, Vice President J D Vance would have had an enormous argument to be the inevitable nominee.
Now, with this go-slow…
Stutzman's endorsement does not decide anything by itself. It does show that prominent conservatives are no longer treating a Vance nomination as a foregone conclusion.
The Republican Party now has two years to prove it heard the voters. The eventual nominee will have to do more than inherit President Trump's coalition; he will have to rebuild it.
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