DALLAS — Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) told the Washington Examiner that Vice President JD Vance is the Republican Party‘s “clear front-runner” for president in 2028.
“He is a huge leader of the party right now, and he’s done a phenomenal job supporting the president and making the case to the American people that what the president has been doing both domestically with economic policy, with the border, but also in many instances with foreign policy, makes a lot of sense,” Gill said.
“So I’d love to see Vice President Vance at the top of the ticket,” he added.
Vance has emerged as one of the most prominent potential successors to President Donald Trump, with his Thursday keynote at the GOP midterm convention drawing attention to the party’s post-Trump future. As Trump’s presidency inches closer to the halfway mark, focus has shifted to who will be his successor.
But before a successor can be finalized, Republicans must first face the midterm elections.
“I just want to make sure that we can keep a majority in the House,” Gill said. “I want to make sure that we can make the case to the American people that this election is about mainstream values for the Republican Party and extreme values.”
Gill, speaking with the Washington Examiner at the Republican National Committee’s first-ever midterm convention in Dallas, Texas, his home state, emphasized the energy and excitement from attendees.
“My favorite [thing is] getting on stage and seeing the excitement from Republican voters all over the country, and seeing how engaged they are and how ready they are to fight for our country this election cycle,” Gill said to the Washington Examiner.
The convention has brought together some of Trump’s staunchest supporters, with Trump asking them to “vote like I’m on the ballot” in his Wednesday keynote address.
Gill called on Republicans to take a lesson from Trump’s time in office: follow through on campaign promises.
“I think the No. 1 thing Republicans are taking from the Trump era is that we ought to be doing what we said we’d do,” Gill said.
He argued that Republican and Democratic presidents have spent decades promising to secure the southern border, but that Trump followed through on this promise.
“It was President Trump who actually had the backbone and cared enough, frankly, for the American people and had enough respect for the American people that he was actually going to do what he said he was doing,” Gill said.
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Gill said Republicans should look at Trump’s record as they consider the party’s future beyond the current president.
For Gill, that future currently points toward Vance.
