President Trump playfully polled guests on a possible 2028 ticket featuring Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio during a White House Rose Garden dinner for law enforcement leaders on May 11, 2026.
“Is it gonna be JD? Is it gonna be someone else? I don’t know,” he said, then conducted an impromptu show of hands. “Who likes JD Vance?” and “Who likes Marco Rubio?” drew cheers and laughter from the room. “Sounds like a good ticket,” Trump added, calling them a “dream team” but stressing that neither has his formal backing: “That does not mean you have my endorsement under any circumstance.”
The remarks came at the administration’s second ‘Rose Garden Club’ dinner in honor of Police Week. A Reuters photo from the event shows the president delivering remarks in the Rose Garden.
Trump has repeatedly floated the Vance‑Rubio pairing with close aides and visitors to gauge opinion, according to people familiar with his conversations.
Vance is a first‑term senator from Ohio who was chosen by Trump as his running mate in the 2024 campaign. Rubio, a three‑term former senator from Florida who ran for president in 2016 and later dropped out after losing the Republican primary to Trump, joined the administration as Secretary of State in 2025.
The brief, light‑hearted exchange at the dinner underscored ongoing speculation inside Republican circles about future ticket configurations, even as the president stops short of offering an official endorsement.
