Vance’s 2026 ‘legwork’ could be building a 2028 advantage

However, three senior Republican strategists maintain that Vance’s own slate of campaign-style events is lending him one major leg up on Rubio should both vie for the presidency.

“Other than the president, he’s obviously the best messenger to send out on the road in a very tight cycle,” one former Trump campaign staffer told the Washington Examiner. “[Republicans] absolutely have to hang on to at least chamber, otherwise say goodbye to doing anything legislatively for the next two years — not to mention dealing with all of the impeachment bulls**t you know Democrats are going to try to do. But I do think just getting out on the road, going to swing states, that can only boost his own brand for whenever he ends up running for president. Will it be in 2028? I don’t know, but he’s putting in the legwork now that he’ll need down the line.”

Another Trump campaign veteran said that Rubio “shot up the polls by wooing people in Washington and foreign dignitaries,” but that those people don’t “decide Republican primaries.”

“Vance, on the other hand, is literally out with the people,” the staffer said. “He’s got to catch up on more than a decade’s worth of political experience and facetime with the public, and while he certainly has a vested interest in making sure Republicans win in November, you’d be a fool to deny the value he’s getting out of being on the road right now.”

Since last January, the vice president has visited 32 states, only 15 fewer than former Vice President Kamala Harris logged during her four years in office. Of the seven recent battleground states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — all but Wisconsin have seen Vance grace their borders on multiple occasions since he entered the White House.

This year alone, Vance has already rallied in Toledo, Ohio; Rocky Mount, North Carolina; Auburn Hills, Michigan; Des Moines, Iowa; Bangor, Maine; and Kansas City, Missouri. Most of these troops have been to congressional districts Republicans are trying to hold or flip in November.

Vance is also helping raise money for Republican campaign coffers. The vice president is serving as the Republican National Committee’s finance chair this cycle and has personally headlined fundraisers in Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee, and Texas. Vance’s efforts have led to the RNC entering the summer with roughly $125 million in on-hand cash, according to persons familiar, which they’ll pair with Trump’s own $300 million war chest. 

RNC chairman Joe Gruters told the Washington Examiner that “JD has raised a record amount of money for a vice president and a big part of that is how close donors know he is to the president.”

“He’s not tasked with ceremonial things; it’s real work, he’s a real confidant of the president’s,” he wrote in a statement. “That’s why they keep smashing fundraising records together.”

Beyond the direct campaigning, Vance has appeared across the country looking, “quite frankly, very presidential,” one anti-Trump Republican operative told the Washington Examiner. Those trips included attending the March 7 dignified transfer in Delaware of American service members killed in the Iran war, giving the keynote address at the Air Force Academy’s spring commencement ceremony on May 28, and, earlier in the month, heading home to Cincinnati, Ohio to cast an in-person ballot in the state’s Republican primary.

VANCE BECOMES KEY GOP SURROGATE IN FIGHT FOR CONTROL OF THE HOUSE

And in recent months, Vance has made significant headway in touting the work of the White House’s anti-fraud task force, which he leads. The vice president has spoken about the operation both in Washington and across the country, characterizing the initiative as a truly nonpartisan effort to curb government waste as opposed to a vengeful effort by Trump to go after Democrat-run states, as the president’s critics allege. 

“Let’s be honest, Vance is kind of staring down the two major speedbumps that sunk Kamala Harris: a ridiculously unpopular president and the perception that they simply aren’t relatable to everyday Americans,” the anti-Trump Republican operative claimed. “By any objective measure, I’d say he’s succeeding in countering both of those problems so far.”