Vice President JD Vance, whose favorability with the broader public has slid underwater this year, has lost one of the Republican Party’s largest donors to Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the contest to succeed President Donald Trump — two days after anonymous White House sources were quoted in a July 6, 2026, report saying Trump had effectively settled on Vance as his preferred successor.
Ken Griffin, who gave $107 million to Republican-aligned political action committees in the 2024 cycle, said during the annual Allen & Company conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, that he is “predisposed” to support Rubio, according to Axios. Griffin, a frequent Trump critic, told financial journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin he was inclined toward Rubio after backing him with $5 million in the 2016 Republican primary. He gave another $5 million to a super PAC supporting former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the 2024 primary and did not donate to Trump’s campaign or his MAGA Inc. super PAC that cycle.
Where Vance Remains Exposed
In June 2026, Vance, along with Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, helped broker a tentative framework aimed at ending the U.S. conflict with Iran. Supporters inside the administration have pointed to the deal as evidence that Vance is ready to operate on the world stage. Critics, however, note that the agreement amounts to a provisional accord rather than a binding ceasefire, and that an earlier round of Iran talks that Vance joined collapsed without result.
Trump has grown irritated with commentator Tucker Carlson, a prominent MAGA voice who has turned sharply critical of the administration over its Middle East policy — a tension that could complicate Vance’s relationship with one wing of the conservative media ecosystem. Pro-Israel conservatives have also expressed frustration over Vance’s role in the Iran negotiations and remarks he made that were seen as critical of Israel’s hard-right political factions.
Vance’s standing with the general public has deteriorated sharply: Civiqs polling through July 1 put his favorability at 39% against 56% unfavorable, and a CNN/SSRS survey in late March had his job approval at 37%. Within his own party, though, he remains dominant — his favorability among Republicans climbed to a net +69 in April, and Emerson’s February national poll showed him leading the GOP field. That split is what makes Griffin’s defection notable: it is a donor-class move, not a base revolt.
Anonymous Sources Signal Trump’s Preference
The report follows months of Trump publicly dangling a Vance-versus-Rubio showdown. One White House insider said, “POTUS isn’t asking, ‘JD or Marco?’ anymore,” and that Trump has shifted to telling people in his orbit, “JD looks great, right?”
The BBC’s “Americast” program examined the dynamic in an episode published May 11, noting that Trump had been asking advisors whether they preferred “JD or Marco.” Hosts Justin Webb and Anthony Zurcher weighed the respective strengths of each figure: Vance carries greater name recognition nationally, while Rubio could potentially draw Latino voters whose support proved instrumental in securing Trump’s 2024 victory.
Vance Builds a Formidable 2028 Machine
Vance has meanwhile assembled an unusually aggressive public profile for a sitting vice president. On June 16, he published a memoir, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith,” while simultaneously raising roughly $70 million for the Republican National Committee. Over that same stretch, Vance sat down for more than 30 interviews and is now scheduled for a book tour spanning the next several weeks.
On June 26, reporting surfaced that Vance had pulled in $4.2 million at a single dinner in Silicon Valley — a figure explicitly tied by sources to an anticipated 2028 presidential run.
Rubio’s Allies Acknowledge the Gap
Even those in Rubio’s corner appear to concede that the secretary of state is at a structural disadvantage. One White House source told Axios, “JD is earning it, and Trump sees it,” while a separate insider acknowledged that Rubio “wasn’t planning to run anyway, and he’d be even less likely to do so now.” Rubio himself has repeatedly denied any personal ambition for the Oval Office and has said publicly that he would support Vance if the vice president enters the race.
Vance has returned the warmth, calling Rubio “my best friend in the administration” and saying “there’s not going to be any tension” between them.
Days before the BBC episode aired, Rubio had posted a polished, campaign-style video laying out his “hope for America,” built around audio from a White House briefing he led while filling in for press secretary Karoline Leavitt during her maternity leave. The clip went viral and rekindled speculation about the party’s 2028 direction.
Trump Keeps His Options Open
Despite the insider chatter, Trump has dodged direct queries on the subject for months. On June 3, he told the New York Post’s “Pod Force One” podcast that Vance and Rubio are “both great,” adding, “I like them together” and “I think the two of them running together as a team would be very unbeatable.” He said there was still “a long time left” before 2028 becomes a live question. Some political analysts have suggested he has strong incentives to keep the race open; a definitively anointed heir could, in theory, begin to overshadow Trump within his own administration.
Axios made precisely that argument on Feb. 22, in a report that first disclosed Trump was asking advisers whether they preferred “JD or Marco,” while citing sources who cautioned against reading his hesitation as diminished enthusiasm for Vance.
The party lost two major redistricting rulings within 10 days this spring: the U.S. Supreme Court’s April 29 decision in Louisiana v. Callais, which narrowed the Voting Rights Act, and the Supreme Court of Virginia’s 4-3 ruling on May 8 striking down a Democratic-drawn congressional map. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to reinstate the Virginia map on May 15.
Whether Trump’s preference hardens into an official blessing remains to be seen. For now, the private chatter runs in the vice president’s favor — even as the party’s biggest checkbooks look elsewhere.