JD Vance

Axios - Just eight months after President Trump picked JD Vance to be his vice president, Vance is already positioned to be MAGA's heir apparent for 2028, Axios' Alex Thompson and Marc Caputo write.... Many of Trump's longest-serving aides and most fervent supporters now see the vice president as the vehicle to lock in Trump's worldview for at least the next decade. In their view, Trump broke the old Republican Party — and Vance can finish building the new one....

At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in February, Vance easily won a straw poll of potential 2028 GOP nominees with 61%. Steve Bannon — an official in Trump's first White House, who now presides over the powerful "War Room" podcast — came in a distant second with 12%.

Even some Vance boosters concede he doesn't have the showmanship that made Trump a reality TV star and political phenomenon. Some Democratic strategists scoff at the idea that Vance — who'd been in the Senate for just 18 months when Trump picked him for VP — could be a successful national candidate.

The early enthusiasm for Vance has put a target on his back. Some in Vance's orbit are keeping an eye on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a former Trump rival.

• DeSantis now has a good relationship with Trump — which some have interpreted as an effort by the president to keep potential Vance rivals around, so the vice president doesn't get too comfortable.

Some Trump aides and allies see the Yale Law-educated Vance as the brainy version of MAGA. While Trump is a blunt-force object, they see Vance as a writerly intellectual who will personally compose his 20-paragraph posts on X.   More