A group of roughly 25 Republican donors reportedly indicated that they favor Secretary of State Marco Rubio over Vice President JD Vance as the party’s presidential nominee in the 2028 race during a late-February gathering at Mar-a-Lago, according to a new report by NBC News.

NBC described the setting surrounding the discussion, noting that it took place the same night the United States and Israel launched major strikes on Iran. “In the early hours of Feb. 28, President Donald Trump and his administration joined Israel in launching a wave of strikes on Iran that would reverberate across the Middle East. That night, he was schmoozing at Mar-a-Lago with some of his top administration officials and political donors, with a pressing question: Marco or JD?” reported NBC.

According to two individuals present at the event, Trump asked those gathered whom they preferred as the Republican candidate in 2028. The response from the room strongly favored Rubio. Those in attendance “overwhelmingly indicated Secretary of State Marco Rubio through their cheering, according to two people who were at the event.”

“It was almost unanimous for Marco,” said one attendee.

“Yeah, that’s right. It was clear, at least that night,” said another.

A third person present challenged that account, saying the response was not quite as one-sided and describing the reaction as more “evenly split.”

Axios reporter Marc Caputo said Monday during an appearance on CNN that Trump has been informally sounding out opinions about the 2028 race and asking people which candidate they prefer.

“We wrote about this at Axios a little while ago, which is Donald Trump likes to poll people about, ‘Hey, what do you think about 2028? Who do you the candidate should be?’ And he asks, ‘Marco Rubio or JD Vance?’ He doesn’t want them to run against each other, he wants them to to run with each other,” said Caputo. “But he’s getting a lot of more positive feedback, Trump is, about Rubio at the top of the ticket than Vance. A lot that is just sort of recency bias, and the fact that Marco Rubio has a portfolio: secretary of state, it puts him in the front and center of global affairs, and national security advisor, it puts him directly in the White House. The vice president doesn’t quite have that.”

Despite the feedback described by some donors, Vance currently holds a significant lead in early polling for the 2028 Republican presidential primary, while Rubio trails behind in second place.

Observers say Trump’s endorsement—if he chooses to offer one—could have a major impact once the Republican nomination contest begins to take shape.

{Matzav.com}