Way Too Early 2028 Predictions
Over the last ten years or so, sports journalists have started doing this right at the end of a season. They being making predictions for the NEXT season. No kidding. Immediately following the Super Bowl, the World Series, the NCAA tournament, or any season culminating event, sportswriters put out their predictions for the next season.
When I first saw these, they were legitimate predictions with maybe one or two “shockers” mixed in. It felt like the shockers were there to highlight the “anything can happen in sports” mentality. I also think it was because some of the writers wanted to be “that guy” who could say “I called it!” and likely be the first or only one to make that specific prediction.
In the end, the “too early” projections were meant to keep that particular sport relevant for another few days or weeks before it was overtaken by the next sports season. Mostly, they were meant to be fun.
So, that’s what this is but I’m not talking about sports. I am talking about the Presidential election cycle of 2028. Where will we be? Who will run? Who will win?
Not a shocker, but Vice President Vance will be the GOP candidate for President. There may be one or two challengers in the early running, but the Republican Party will throw its weight behind Vance after a successful term by President Trump. Vance will run on a platform of “President Trump tore it down, I am going to rebuild it”. The MAGA label will fade with Trump, even though Vance will focus on continuing the path the nation is on.
The Democrats will throw a large pool of candidates out there and see what sticks. Tons of familiar names from the governor pool, but also some “I ran before” candidates. Kamala Harris’s name will be thrown out there as a potential candidate, but she won’t run. The last election was a clear indicator that she can’t win. Pete Buttigieg will run again and fail but will be high on the list of VP candidates. Gretchen Whitmer will run and be the only female candidate in the pool. Tim Walz will make a go, but he won’t last long either. In the end it will be between JD Pritzker and Gavin Newsome.
Gavin Newsome will be on the ticket for the Democrats. He wants it more than anyone and is likely the most qualified of the existing pool. I am confident the candidacy has already been promised to him. Do you remember when he took a trip to Mexico with the Clintons? I would bet he was considering a run to replace Joe Biden, but they told him to wait and let Kamala take the hit in 2024. He agreed but it was only because the powers of the party told him 2028 was his. If you haven’t noticed, he is already quietly campaigning.
Now for the VP picks!!! GOP is going to be Marco Rubio. After a great run as SECSTATE, Rubio is part of the long-term line of succession for the GOP. The plan is Trump (4), Vance (8), then Rubio (8). In 12 years, he is still only 64-ish years old. For the Dems, it is Gretchen Whitmer. As the only female Presidential candidate, she will be pulled from the pool because if they have a white male for President, they have to have a minority for Vice President. It is the Biden/Harris ticket all over again.
Supreme Court will have undergone another appointment by 2028. Through some turn of events, whether is it health or something else, one of the conservative justices will need to be replaced. The balance of the court won’t change, but there will be at least one new justice on the bench by then. SCOTUS will be a big issue on the campaign trail. Either term limits or increasing the number of justices will become a highly debated issue.
Going into the cycle, the Republicans will still own the House and the Senate. After learning nothing from 2024, the Democrats will run their candidates on the same platforms of anger, hate, and division at every level and it will fail miserably at the 2026 midterms. James Carville will officially quit as a strategist and advisor for the Democrat party because no one listened to him (again) and he will sit on his front porch and yell “I told you so” to anyone passing by.
The entirety of the Democrat “old guard” will be gone by 2028. Schumer, Pelosi, and the rest will all retire or be relegated to the cheap seats. People like John Fetterman, who is acting more like a centrist, will be pushed to the curb. After the mess of the 2026 midterms, and to the detriment of the Democrat Party, you will see more of Hakeem Jefferies, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and the younger crowd start to take over. They will bring lots of energy and more radical ideas to their own party. It won’t bode well as they lose more seats in both sides of Congress in 2028.
There will be a RINO purge in 2026 and again in 2028. You will see people like Dan Crenshaw lose their seats in Congress. The lines within the GOP will become very clear, either you are on the team or you’re out. Period. I am NEVER one to support party-line voting or just going along with the crowd, but that is what will happen.
Elon Musk will lose his role in USGOV as President Trump leaves office. Vice President Vance will want to break that relationship as he focuses more on building than reducing. If DOGE still exists, it will slowly fade away and Elon will go back to Space X and Tesla or find some new innovation to jump on. Probably AI related by then.
The big winner in 2028 will be the Vance/Rubio ticket. Newsome will make it closer than expected, but his own party will somehow screw up his candidacy. His performance as the California Governor will come under massive scrutiny and the departure of businesses and residents while he was governor will become the focus by voters. Vance will win because (again) the Democrats picked a poor candidate.
Shockers: Joe Biden will be dead before 2028, which will emphasize how close America was to disaster in 2024 and will be a GOP talking point in the early stages of the campaign. “The Squad” will evaporate because there isn’t enough room for everyone’s radical ideas and the guilt by association will become a detriment. Mike Johnson won’t be the Speaker of the House by 2028. Gas will be sitting around $2.25 as the national average. We still won’t see the Epstein client list in full, which will be a talking point from the MSM against Vance during his campaign as a “broken promise”. Ted Cruz will be the newest justice on SCOTUS. Pete Hegseth will be long gone as SECDEF, replaced by HR McMaster who was a defense advisor for President Trump during his first term.
So, there they are. That’s where I think we will be in 2028 and what I think will happen. Agree or disagree, it’s interesting to think that far forward. Those are my Way Too Early Predictions.