Former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said he is considering running for Senate after previously rejecting the possibility.
“I have not ruled it out completely, but folks in Washington have asked me to think about it and to consider it, and that is just kind of where I am,” Sununu said Tuesday about a possible Senate run, according to The Washington Times.
Democrat Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire announced Wednesday she will not seek reelection to the United States Senate next year, concluding a historic political career that includes being the first woman elected as both a governor and U.S. senator in the United States. Shaheen, who turned 78 in January, has been a significant figure in New Hampshire politics for decades, serving three terms as governor before her election to the Senate in 2008.
Sununu has previously said he is not interested in representing his state in Washington.
“I would rule myself completely out of a U.S. Senate race, to be sure,” Sununu said last year, according to a local news outlet.
“Politically, we’ll see what happens down the road. But in terms of Senate or Congress, nothing I have any interest in whatsoever,” he added.
The Washington Times reported, however, that Sununu is now saying that Trump’s focus on making government more accountable and efficient has prompted him to reconsider.
“That makes me think, OK, maybe things are changing,” he said, according to The Washington Times. “Maybe there’s a path here.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is leaving the door open to another presidential bid after his unsuccessful 2024 campaign, signaling he could reemerge as a contender in the increasingly competitive 2028 Republican primary.
“We’ll see,” DeSantis told Fox News host Sean Hannity on his podcast, “Hang Out with Sean Hannity.” The full interview is set to be released Tuesday.
🚨 NOW: Ron DeSantis is signaling a possible 2028 run, saying President Trump built a powerful voter base but Republicans must deliver results to keep it.
He pointed to Florida’s 2022 landslide win as proof conservative leadership can secure victories.pic.twitter.com/s6Blk59SYL
DeSantis, who is term-limited and will leave office in January 2027, faces a relatively short window to decide his political future. With the 2028 primary season expected to ramp up shortly thereafter, he will have roughly a year out of office to assess whether to launch another White House run.
Once viewed as a rising star in the GOP, DeSantis entered the 2024 presidential race with significant momentum. His national profile surged his opposition to COVID-19 lockdowns and a dominant nearly 20-point reelection victory in Florida in 2022. Early on, he was widely considered one of the strongest alternatives to former President Trump.
However, his campaign struggled to gain traction amid a prolonged and often contentious rivalry with Trump, who retained deep loyalty among Republican voters. After finishing a distant second in the Iowa caucuses — with just over 21 percent of the vote and nine delegates — DeSantis suspended his campaign ahead of the New Hampshire primary and endorsed Trump. He ultimately placed third overall in the Republican primary, behind Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Reflecting on that race, DeSantis suggested his support was constrained by Trump’s presence in the field.
“They were conservative voters, right? They didn’t want the non-conservative, they wanted me,” he said. “But the timing didn’t work out, obviously, for that.”
“So you just got to see what happens,” he added.
Looking ahead, the 2028 Republican primary is already beginning to take shape, with several high-profile figures jockeying for early position. Vice President JD Vance currently holds a significant polling advantage, benefiting from his national platform and close alignment with Trump-era politics.
Recent surveys illustrate the early dynamics of the race. A poll conducted by Echelon Insights found that 40 percent of Republican-leaning respondents favored Vance. Secretary of State Marco Rubio followed at 16 percent, while Donald Trump Jr., DeSantis and Haley trailed with 9 percent, 5 percent and 5 percent, respectively. Thirteen percent of respondents remained undecided.
A separate poll by The Public Sentiment Institute showed a somewhat tighter field, with DeSantis polling at 13.5 percent — good for third place — behind Vance (29.3 percent) and Rubio (15.5 percent). Nearly 10 percent of respondents were undecided.
The early polling underscores both the opportunity and the challenge for DeSantis. While he remains a recognizable figure with a record that appeals to conservative voters, he would likely enter a crowded field that includes establishment figures like Rubio, Trump-aligned candidates such as Vance and Trump Jr., and other potential contenders still weighing bids.
With Trump’s future political role uncertain and no clear consensus successor, the 2028 race is shaping up to be a wide-open contest. Whether DeSantis can reestablish himself as a top-tier candidate may depend on how effectively he rebuilds momentum after his 2024 defeat — and whether the political environment proves more favorable the second time around.
President Joe Biden’s approval rating sank to a new low in a Marquette University Law School poll released this week.
According to the survey of 1,063 adults across the country, just 34% of the country approves of the way Biden “is handling his job as president,” while 66% disapprove, putting him underwater by a shell-shocking 32 points.
That’s the worst net approval rating Biden has posted in the poll since taking office. It appears that the president’s decision to go back on his word and pardon his son, Hunter Biden, for any crimes he may have committed over a more than decade-long period, may have contributed to his plummeting popularity. Just 29% of respondents said they approved of the pardon, while 71% disapproved.
Fifty-three percent, meanwhile, say that they approved of the way President-elect Donald Trump handled his job during his first term in office.
The plunge in the president’s approval was also fueled by soaring inflation – which started spiking in the summer of 2021
Biden has not achieved a positive net approval rating since July 2021. His previous low of -30 came this summer.
The president’s approval stands in the mid-30s to low-40s in the latest national surveys, including the most recent Fox News national poll, where Biden stands at 41% approval.
The president has faded from the news cycle over his last half-year or so in office after he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race in late July
Donald Trump had a surprising reaction to Biden’s shocking “garbage” comments on Tuesday.
The Republican nominee called on his supporters to forgive him during a packed rally at the PPL Center in Allentown, Pennsylvania.
“Please forgive him for not knowing what he said,” Trump said. “These people are terrible, terrible, terrible to say a thing like that. But he really doesn’t know. He really honestly, he doesn’t. And I’m convinced that he likes me more than he likes Kamala. But that’s a terrible thing.”
Watch:
Trump responds to Biden’s comment calling his supporters “garbage”:
Trump’s call for unity – and forgiveness – came after the president called Trump supporters’ garbage during a get-out-the-vote call for Voto Latino.
In remarks from the White House, Biden had said earlier to Latino voters:
And just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a “floating island of garbage.” Well, let me tell you something. I don’t– I– I don’t know the Puerto Rican that– that I know– or a Puerto Rico, where I’m from– in my home state of Delaware, they’re good, decent, honorable people.
The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters– his– his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable, and it’s un-American. It’s totally contrary to everything we’ve done, everything we’ve been.
Biden’s comments came after Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates told Fox News’ Jacqui Heinrich that President Biden “referred to the hateful rhetoric at the Madison Square Garden rally as ‘garbage.’”
“The president was referencing a joke by comedian Tony Hinchcliffe in which he likened Puerto Rico to an island of floating “garbage” in the middle of the ocean,” Bates said.
Kamala Harris was deeply outraged by a comedian’s joke.
If she has any decency or integrity, she will condemn her partner Joe Biden’s despicable statement calling half the country garbage.
Trump told Fox News host Sean Hannity Tuesday that Hinchcliffe was not vetted by the campaign but that he saw the outcry as no “big deal.”
Hannity asked, “Do you wish [Hinchcliffe] wasn’t there?”
Trump responded, “Yeah, I don’t know if it’s a big deal or not, but I don’t want anybody making nasty jokes or stupid jokes, and probably he shouldn’t have been there.”
Former U.S. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, the Republican who was ousted last year from her Southwest Washington congressional seat after voting to impeach then-President Donald Trump, plans to reignite her failed political career by running for state commissioner of public lands.
Herrera Beutler announced her intentions at a meeting Monday morning with supporters of Future 42, a conservative political group, a meeting participant told The Seattle Times.
“1,000% — she’s in,” the source said.
Herrera Beutler was one of 10 House Republicans to cross party lines and vote to impeach Trump for allegedly inciting the mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
In an address on the House floor, Herrera Beutler called on her colleagues to embrace the moral clarity that comes with accepting the truth.
“I rise today to stand against our enemy. And to clarify, our enemy isn’t the president, or the president-elect. Fear is our enemy. It tells us what we want to hear, it incites anger and violence and fire, but it also haunts us into silence and inaction. What are you afraid of?” she asked.
“My vote to impeach our sitting president is not a fear-based decision. I am not choosing a side, I’m choosing truth. It’s the only way to defeat fear,” Herrera Beutler concluded, to a smattering of applause on the House floor.
Ex-Democrat Tulsi Gabbard is ready to make waves now that she’s cut the dead weight.
The former Democrat presidential contender is set to campaign for a Republican Senate hopeful just days after making the bombshell announcement she’s leaving the party.
One day after her announcement Gabbard revealed her plans to stump for New Hampshire GOP Senate candidate Don Bolduc who has been vying for former President Trump’s endorsement.
“We don’t agree on every issue, but I am honored to have the support of Tulsi Gabbard who shares my view that the status quo is broken, and we need a change of direction,” Bolduc said in a statement.
“Tulsi is a fellow change agent and independent-minded outsider willing to speak truth to power. I am going to spend every day between now and Election Day building a wide coalition of supporters that includes Republicans, independents and even disaffected Democrats who know that Senator Hassan is a career politician and must be retired,” he added.
Bolduc is a retired Army brigadier general who won a close race against state Sen. Chuck Morse in the GOP primary.
On Tuesday, Gabbard announced she is officially abandoning the Democrat Party.
I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is now under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue & stoke anti-white racism, actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms, are… pic.twitter.com/oAuTnxZldf
“I can no longer remain in today’s Democratic Party that is under the complete control of an elitist cabal of warmongers who are driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoking anti-white racism, who actively work to undermine our God-given freedoms that are enshrined in our Constitution, who are hostile to people of faith and spirituality,” she said.
“I believe in a government that is of, by, and for the people. Unfortunately, today’s Democratic Party does not. Instead, it stands for a government of, by, and for the powerful elite,” she continued. “I’m calling on my fellow common sense independent-minded Democrats to join me in leaving the Democratic Party. If you can no longer stomach the direction that so-called woke Democratic Party ideologues are taking our country, I invite you to join me.”
On Tuesday evening, Florida Congressman Byron Donalds signaled he plans to campaign to become the next Florida governor days after President Trump suggested that he run.
The next Florida gubernatorial election is slated for Nov. 3, 2026.
Speaking to host Sean Hannity, Donalds said he came to the decision to run “after a lot of prayer [and] a lot of thoughts with my family and my friends.”
“Sean, we have a wonderful state,” Donalds said. “I got to Florida when I was 17 years old, off of a Greyhound bus with just a trunk full of clothes. And over the rest of my time in Florida, I built a family, I built a career. … I was able to serve four years in a state legislature, four years in Congress.
“And I think now is the time to now take the mantle and lead our state into the future.”
I arrived in the Sunshine State at 17 years old on a Greyhound bus, with a trunk full of clothes and a dream.
Now is the time to keep the best state in the country as the best state in the country.
Tonight, I am proud to announce my candidacy to be the next governor of Florida. pic.twitter.com/8jUHXw8A34
The Florida Republican said he is the only candidate in the race so far and commended Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for his service to the state.
“We have a great governor. Ron DeSantis has done a tremendous job for our state,” Donalds said. “But now the job is to keep the best state in the country as the best state in the country. And so that’s going to be the mission at hand. And I’m excited to announce my candidacy with you tonight.”
Donalds was endorsed by President Donald Trump, who recently wrote that his fellow Sunshine State resident “would be a truly Great and Powerful Governor for Florida.”
“I am hearing that Highly Respected Congressman Byron Donalds is considering running for Governor of Florida, a State that I love, and WON BIG in 2016, 2020, and 2024,” a Trump social media post said.
“[S]hould he decide to run, [Donalds] will have my Complete and Total Endorsement. RUN, BYRON, RUN!”
Ron DeSantis via Gage Skidmore Flickr
DeSantis, however, has not signaled support for Donalds. On Monday, DeSantis told reporters he wants Florida congressmen to be “focused on enacting [Trump’s] agenda.”
DeSantis’ comments came amid rumors that his wife, Casey, might run for governor. The Florida governor dodged a reporter’s question about his wife’s plans at a press conference Monday.
“People ask me all the time about our wonderful first lady, who has done a fantastic job as first lady of Florida,” DeSantis responded. “I will tell you this. You’re talking about somebody like her. I won by the biggest margin that any Republican has ever won a governor’s race here in Florida. She would do better than me.”
In a surprising turnaround, former Trump campaign attorney Jenna Ellis has agreed to cooperate with Arizona prosecutors in their 2020 election interference case.
Ellis previously faced nine felony counts including fraud, forgery, and conspiracy. However, in exchange for her cooperation, the charges were dismissed.
In a statement, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) called the agreement a “significant step forward” in the case.
“I am grateful to Ms. Ellis for her cooperation with our investigation and prosecution,” Mayes said. “Her insights are invaluable and will greatly aid the State in proving its case in court. As I stated when the initial charges were announced, I will not allow American democracy to be undermined — it is far too important. Today’s announcement is a win for the rule of law.”
As part of the deal, Ellis agreed to testify “completely and truthfully at any time and any place,” including at a criminal trial. She also vowed not to “protect any person or entity” through false information or omissions.
Ellis’s charges stemmed from her false claims of election fraud and efforts to pressure the Arizona Legislature into overturning the state’s election results in Trump’s favor.
She was also accused of encouraging then-Vice President Mike Pence to accept slates of fake electors instead of the true electoral votes cast for President Biden. Biden won Arizona by 10,457 votes.
Ex-White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and Rudy Giuliani are among the 17 total defendants with remaining charges; they were indicted in April and have pleaded not guilty.
Trump himself is not charged in the case but is described as “unindicted co-conspirator 1.”
President Biden on Monday said he plans on running for reelection in 2024, but he’s not yet ready to make an official announcement.
Biden spoke with NBC’s Al Roker for a “Today” show segment on the White House Easter egg roll.
“I plan on at least three or four more Easter egg rolls. Maybe five. Maybe six, what the hell? I don’t know,” Biden said with a smile.
“Are you saying that you would be taking part in our upcoming election in 2024? Help a brother out, make some news for me,” Roker said.
“I plan on running, Al, but we’re not prepared to announce it yet,” Biden responded.
The 80-year-old president has repeatedly said for months that he intends to seek a second term in the White House, but he’s yet to make any formal announcements.
The Democrat primary field is already growing. Self-help guru Marianne Williamson announced her plan to challenge President Biden last month and last week Robert F. Kennedy Jr. revealed he plans to formally announce his campaign at an event in Boston later this month.
A number of Republicans have already announced their candidacy for the 2024 presidential nomination. Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and tech mogul Vivek Ramaswamy jumped into the race in February. Former President Donald Trump is also making this third run for the White House. Last week, former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson became the latest Republican to enter the contest.
President Donald Trump teased the possibility of a future Republican “dream team” this week, but despite renewed speculation surrounding Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the president has made clear he has not yet chosen a favorite to carry the MAGA mantle into 2028.
Speaking to a group of law enforcement officials at the White House on Monday, Trump openly polled the crowd about who should succeed him once his second term ends.
“I don’t know. Who’s it going to be? Is it going to be JD? Is there going to be somebody else? I don’t know,” Trump said before asking attendees directly, “Who likes JD Vance? Who likes Marco Rubio? All right. Sounds like a good ticket.”
Applause in the room appeared louder for Vance, though Trump quickly clarified he was not offering an endorsement.
“By the way, I do believe that’s a dream team. But these are minor details. That does not mean you have my endorsement under any circumstance,” Trump said. “But you know … I think it sounds like presidential candidate and vice presidential candidate.”
The remarks immediately fueled speculation about the shape of the 2028 Republican primary field, which is increasingly viewed as likely to revolve around Vance and Rubio — two rising stars who have become central figures in Trump’s administration and broader MAGA movement.
Trump himself has repeatedly suggested Vance is currently the favorite to inherit the movement, while also leaving the door open to Rubio playing a major role.
Last August, Trump said Vance would “most likely” be the GOP nominee in 2028.
“Well, I think most likely, in all fairness,” Trump said at the time. “He’s the vice president. I think Marco is also somebody that maybe would get together with JD in some form.”
Still, Trump stopped short of a formal endorsement then as well.
“I also think we have incredible people, some of the people on the stage right here, so it’s too early obviously to talk about it,” he added. “But certainly, [Vance] is doing a great job, and he would be probably favored at this point.”
Rubio, for his part, publicly signaled support for Vance last year, telling Vanity Fair: “If JD Vance runs for president, he’s going to be our nominee, and I’ll be one of the first people to support him.”
Yet speculation about Rubio’s own ambitions has only intensified as he has emerged as one of the administration’s most visible and influential officials, juggling a growing list of high-profile responsibilities within Trump’s orbit.
At the same time, some political observers believe the eventual 2028 field may not unfold the way many Republicans currently expect.
Political analyst Mark Halperin argued Friday that Vance and Rubio are unlikely to engage in a bruising primary battle against one another despite widespread media speculation.
“We get to what I think is driving a lot of this, besides people loving Marco Rubio — and a lot people in my sources do — is Vance,” Halperin said during his online show.
Halperin pointed to concerns among some Republicans about Vance’s public image and political style, arguing Rubio may have advantages in traditional campaign settings.
“I will say that in the next two years, as people in the party and the media are comparing Rubio and Vance side by side, I don’t think Vance can win the performance competition,” Halperin said. “I think Rubio has improved enough and the perceptions are such that Vance is going to have a hard time.”
Still, Halperin ultimately predicted that if Vance decides to run, Rubio would likely avoid challenging him directly.
“These two guys are genuine friends,” Halperin said. “You cannot beat an incumbent vice president running for president unless you rip their face off. That’s just the way our politics work.”
Halperin floated another possibility that has received relatively little attention so far: Vance and Rubio eventually joining forces on a single ticket.
“If Vance runs, I think they’ll run together,” he said. “I think they’ll be a ticket, and they may even announce as a ticket from the beginning of the campaign.”
He also suggested there remains a real possibility Vance could ultimately decline to run altogether, citing the intense scrutiny presidential campaigns place on candidates and their families.
“So if Vance chooses not to run, and I think that’s a possibility, probably because of his kids, I think Rubio will be in an extremely strong position,” Halperin said.
Watch:
For now, however, Trump appears content to encourage speculation without settling the question himself.
While Vance remains widely viewed as the early frontrunner thanks to his position as vice president and close alignment with Trump’s political movement, Rubio’s growing stature within the administration has made him impossible to ignore in conversations about the GOP’s post-Trump future.
And despite the president’s playful “dream team” comments this week, Trump has repeatedly emphasized one thing above all else: the race to succeed him is still far from decided.
