President Donald Trump says he may not put his thumb on the scale when it comes to picking the Republican Party's 2028 presidential nominee.
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it → say → nominee
"Probably, not necessarily," Trump said in a post-midterm election interview on CBS' "60 Minutes" when asked whether he will endorse in the primary to pick the next Republican nominee.
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he → say → nominee
"So I may or may not get involved...
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I → involve → ?
Maybe I'm better off not getting involved."
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I → involve → ?
Trump for months has touted the GOP's "great bench" when asked about the likely Republican field of contenders aiming to succeed him in the White House.
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Trump → tout → House
The president reiterated that opinion after the GOP's drubbing in last week's midterm elections, as the party lost control of both the House and the Senate.
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party → reiterate → House
I think we have an unbelievable bench of talent," Trump told Fox News' Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum in an Election Night interview on Fox News..
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Trump → think → News
"We have a great group of talented people that I think would do a very good job."
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I → have → job
Early jockeying by the potential contenders began the morning after Election Day, with midterm post-mortems by Vice President JD Vance, Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis grabbing plenty of headlines.
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mortems → begin → headlines
"There's going to be a robust field of candidates that test the waters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina and that's exactly as it should be," Nicole Schlinger, a veteran Iowa-based Republican strategist, told Fox News Digital.
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Schlinger → be → Digital
"We're going to get an opportunity to see which approach to our message of where we as the Republican Party goes next is going to resonate the most with the grassroots voters who are going to show up and kick tires.
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who → go → tires
Here's a look at the list of potential GOP presidential contenders in the burgeoning race to become the party's next standard-bearer and impact which direction the party will head in a post-Trump era.
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party → burgeon → era
Vice President JD Vance
The vice president has long been viewed as the likely frontrunner for the 2028 GOP nomination and Trump's heir apparent.
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president → view → nomination
But the conventional wisdom from pundits is that the shellacking the GOP took in the midterms has transformed what may have been a Vance coronation into a more competitive and crowded nomination battle.
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what → take → battle
Vance kicked off the post-midterms debate last Wednesday morning with a roughly 600-word postmortem on X, blaming the war with Iran for the ballot box setbacks, in what some pundits viewed as an early pitch to eventually claim the MAGA and America First mantle.
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pundits → kick → mantle
Even with last week's setbacks, Vance leads many of the early 2028 GOP presidential primary polls, has built a formidable fundraising network thanks in part to his role as the Republican National Committee's finance chair, and has a team of advisers and aides that would form the beginnings of a presidential campaign.
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that → lead → campaign
Secretary of State Marco Rubio
Rubio, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination, is doing his best to stay far away from the 2028 spotlight.
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who → run → spotlight
The former senator from Florida has long been floated by Trump and by pundits as a possible White House contender, and his support in early 2028 polls has soared.
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support → float → polls
But Rubio has downplayed such speculation, and dismissed reports he was considering stepping down as secretary of state to lay the groundwork for a presidential run.
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he → downplay → run
Rubio, who has said a handful of times over the past year that he'd back Vance if the vice president decides to launch a White House campaign, was asked about 2028 Monday while taking questions from reporters during a stop in France.
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president → say → France
"I don't know why you're wasting your time," Rubio said.
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Rubio → know → time
"I'm not going to talk about 2028 any longer.
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I → go → 2028
I'm just not going to talk about 2028 anymore."
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I → go → 2028
Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas
The conservative firebrand senator from Texas, who was runner-up to Trump in the bruising 2016 presidential primaries, has made no secret that he may run for the White House again in 2028.
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he → make → 2028
In his post-Election Day assessment, Cruz described the midterms as a "blue tsunami" and warned that his party had lost touch with voters, particularly in the Lone Star State.
"2026 was not simply a blue wave; it was a blue tsunami.
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it → describe → State
It was an a-- kicking," Cruz wrote.
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Cruz → write → ?
In a possible preview of the Republican primaries, Cruz has put plenty of daylight between himself and Vance over support for Israel, with Cruz spotlighting his support for the Israeli government.
Boosting Cruz if he decides to run would be his top-ranked podcast, Verdict with Ted Cruz, which has allowed the senator to build a massive grassroots network.
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senator → put → network
The term-limited conservative Florida governor, who finishes up in Tallahassee at the start of the new year, ran for the White House in 2024.
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who → limit → 2024
He was an early frontrunner before being decisively defeated by Trump.
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He → defeat → Trump
DeSantis held a news conference the morning after Election Day where he called the midterm election results "close to an extinction-level event for Republicans across the country.
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he → hold → country
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"Let’s just be clear, that is going to hurt — not just for the next two years...
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that → go → years
That is something that can reverberate for the next decade or more," he said.
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he → reverberate → decade
"We knew it could be worse.
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it → know → ?
I don't think most of us thought it would be this bad."
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it → think → us
But DeSantis, who sat for a slew of media interviews in the wake the midterms, repeatedly highlighted that "the one state that was able to hold the line and withstand that is right here in the free state of Florida."
While in 2028 buzz about DeSantis surged since last week's election, the governor took to social media on Friday to blast a report that he was planning a 2028 run, emphasizing, "I have not reached out to anybody about running for anything.
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I → sit → anything
Former Vice President Mike Pence
Pence, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has said he has "no plans" to run for White House again in 2028.
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he → run → 2028
But Pence has seen Advancing American Freedom, his policy and advocacy organization, dramatically expand over the past year.
And the Trump's first vice president told Fox News Digital earlier this year that his fight to keep the Republican Party from drifting too far from its conservative roots and principles, amid a rise of populism in the GOP and big government creep during his Trump's second administration, is "the calling of my life right now."
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fight → expand → life
Last week Pence argued, "The American people have rejected our party’s shift toward economic populism, and our majorities in Congress and state legislatures and governorships across the country paid the price."
But he emphasized, "The conservative comeback starts today."
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comeback → argue → price
The conservative term-limited governor, who finishes out his tenure in Atlanta in two months, is also seen as a potential White House contender.
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who → limit → contender
In the wake of the midterm shellacking, Kemp spelled out a GOP vision centered on the "conservative principles of our party.
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Kemp → spell → party
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
