Vice President J.D. Vance is taking over as the Republican National Committee’s (RNC) finance chair, a new role that GOP strategists and pundits say bolsters his position as the clear frontrunner to represent the party as its nominee in the 2028 presidential race.
In his new role, Vance — the first sitting vice president to take on the RNC campaign finance chair job — will be one of the top fundraisers in the country for the party and play a pivotal role in directing its course in the 2026 midterms and beyond. The position will grant Vance access to major GOP donors from all over the country and an ability to build rapport with them, cementing his status as the obvious leader for the GOP nomination in 2028 over potential opponents who will not have the same opportunities, GOP strategists and pundits told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“This is an acknowledgement of the effectiveness of J.D. Vance advancing the Trump message,” Mark Warner, an Ohio-based GOP strategist, told the DCNF. “You do not put your lead fundraising person out if that person is not a skilled communicator who energizes the base. So, this is an acknowledgement of his skillset and his ability to do many things. Along the way, it will give him relationships with key donors that will be invaluable should he run for president in 2028 … Being the top Republican fundraiser is a tremendous advantage for J.D. Vance.”
Clearly, there is still plenty of time between now and the beginning of the 2028 primary season, but prospective 2028 candidates on the
other side of the aisle are already beginning to test the waters in earnest as part of the very early “invisible primary” process. But the only things that could knock Vance out of his pole position would be a severe slip-up on his part or a sudden loss of support for the Trump brand among GOP base voters, both of which are highly unlikely, in Warner’s view.
To date, Vance has endeared himself to the America First base as vice president. Among other splashy moments and speeches, Vance has
chastised European elites for censoring average citizens,
confronted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy over his perceived lack of gratitude in an Oval Office meeting, delivered strong speeches on topics ranging from the pro-life movement to the artificial intelligence race,
sparred with liberal cable news hosts and helped get Trump cabinet picks like Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard
over the finish line in the Senate confirmation process.
Other potential GOP 2028 candidates who have had their names floated include people like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and even Donald Trump Jr., who has unequivocally stated that he is not going to run to be his father’s successor. Trump did not name Vance as heir apparent in a February interview with Fox News, but former South Carolina GOP Executive Director Alex Stroman said Vance’s appointment to the RNC finance chair should put to rest any doubts about who is currently the clear GOP frontrunner in 2028.
“I think it is a smart decision for the party, for the president, and for the vice president to have him in this role. For the party, this is a major commitment from the White House to ensure that the party is able to raise the money it needs to win elections. For the President, this further integrates him into the party apparatus and ensures that his agenda can be implemented over the next four years. And obviously for the vice president, building relationships with donors and party leaders across the country is vitally important for his political future. It’s a win, win, win for all involved,” Stroman told the DCNF. “I don’t really understand why some in the legacy media want to play this game that J.D. Vance is not the front runner for the Republican nomination, if not the presidency in 2028 … This is a smart decision: J.D. Vance is going to be the 2028 nominee, and this sets him and the Trump legacy up for success now and in the future.”
The 2026 midterms will be a crucial early test for Vance and the RNC — which Trump revamped and effectively took over ahead of the 2024 cycle — given that Democrats will be highly motivated to take back a House majority and the GOP will not have as favorable a Senate map as it did in the 2024 cycle. Vance has already been incredibly active as vice president relative to recent predecessors, so raising cash for the RNC to deploy in pursuit of electoral victories will simply be the latest task he juggles on a day-to-day basis.
“Vance is in a fundraising role, not a strategic role. So, I think the advantage for him in this role is that if he raises the money, regardless of the outcome, he can come out looking okay,” Jamie Miller, a Florida-based GOP strategist, told the DCNF regarding Vance and the 2026 midterms. “Then you get to the real advantage, which is that they’re giving him the opportunity for the next 18 months to meet every major Republican donor in the country. That’s the real advantage for him in 2028 … I don’t know that his appointment removes all doubt, but I think from the second he was chosen as the VP nominee, the nomination in 2028 was his to lose.”
Scott Jennings, a conservative on-air pundit for CNN, told the DCNF that Vance’s appointment to the key RNC post “recognizes the massive influence J.D. has in the Republican Party as the heir apparent” and gives him a major advantage over any prospective challenger in the 2028 GOP primary. Vance has already differentiated himself from most GOP politicians with his contacts and connections in Silicon Valley, where he spent several years working in the tech space before jumping into the political arena and winning the 2022 Senate race in Ohio.
“Vance is going to have access to all the money guys in the Republican Party, all the donors and, truthfully, a pretty big chunk of the fundraisers. It’s an advantage,” Mike McKenna, a GOP strategist, told the DCNF. “The tricky thing about money in politics these days is that there’s so much of it, and there’s so much of it outside of the party apparatus that it’s not the advantage it would have been 20 or 40 years ago. But it’s still a pretty big advantage … It’s hard to beat a sitting vice president in a primary. It just is.”
