Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance are both seen as the Republican Party’s strongest potential candidates in the next presidential election, but the Iran war could prove to be a political millstone for them.
SAFD places engineer on administrative duty; accused of leaving child with autism in animal fecesOff-duty BCSO sergeant arrested on suspicion of DWI, sheriff’s office saysThe Bexar County DA’s office said Michael Hernandez was rearrested last week in Love County, OklahomaRead full article: Suspect in 2023 San Antonio murder found in Oklahoma, extradition underway, officials sayMan arrested in connection with 2 ‘Texas Killing Fields’ murders after 40+ years, report saysStaff at 7 SAISD schools will need to reapply for their jobs next school yearRain chances ramp up the rest of the week and into the weekendNext photo This photo combination shows Secretary of State Marco Rubio , left, and Vice President JD Vance, Jan.
21, 2025, in Washington. Vice President JD Vance, left, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio attend a meeting in the Oval Office at the White House, March 3, 2026, in Washington. This photo combination shows Secretary of State Marco Rubio, left, and Vice President JD Vance, Jan. 21, 2025, in Washington. Rubio, known for his hawkish views, gave an impassioned defense of the war, calling it “a favor” to the United States and the world.Vance, who has long pushed for restraint in U.S. military intervention overseas, was more sedate. He said that the U.S. now has “options” it didn’t have a year ago and that it is important Iran does not get a nuclear weapon — before redirecting his remarks toward wishing the troops a happy Easter.in Iran. And it comes as some would-be Republican presidential candidates begin quietly courting officials in key states like New Hampshire in the early stages of the GOP's next nomination fight. With Vance and Rubio seen as the party's strongest potential candidates in a 2028 primary, the two have to balance their roles in the Trump administration with their future political plans. “It’s very obvious from the way that Rubio talks about Iran and the way that Vance talks about Iran that they are of different casts of mind,” said Curt Mills, the executive director of “The American Conservative" magazine and a vocal critic of the war. The Cabinet meeting episode was telling, he said, because it seemed as though Vance, discussing Easter, was “literally trying to talk about anything else other than the war.” Vance's office declined to comment. The State Department declined to comment but pointed to Rubio's remarks last year during a Fox News Channel interview where he said he hopes Vance intends to run for president and wouldn't rule out anything for himself. It’s too soon to forecast how Republican voters might feel about the war next spring, when the 2028 contest is expected to begin in earnest, but the risks for both Vance and Rubio are acute. Rubio’s full-throated support for the war could come back to haunt him depending on how the conflict develops. Vance, meanwhile, would risk accusations of disloyalty if he were to stray too far from Trump, but struggles to square an appearance of support for the war with his past comments.Vance, who served in the Iraq war, has said that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, but he's long been skeptical of foreign military interventions. Trump seemed to allude that Vance may have held onto that position in private discussions about Iran, telling reporters that Vance was “philosophically a little bit different than me” at the outset of the conflict.Though Vance has been careful in how he speaks about the war, what he’s not saying has been conspicuous. On a March 13 trip to North Carolina, he was twice asked by reporters if he had concerns about the conflict. Each time, he said it was important that Trump could have conversations with advisers “without his team then running their mouths to the American media.” A few days later at the White House, when Vance was again asked if he had concerns, he accused the reporter of “trying to drive a wedge between members of the administration, between me and the president.” For Rubio, long before he became the country’s chief diplomat, he voiced support for muscular foreign policy and American intervention abroad. Days into the war, he told reporters that it was “a wise decision” for Trump to launch the operation, that there “absolutely was an imminent threat” from Iran and that the operation “needed to happen.”The apparent split between Rubio and Vance on the Iran war is emblematic of the divide starting to cleave within the Republican Party. A recent survey from, with about half of Republicans saying the U.S. military action has been “about right.” Relatively few Republicans, about 2 in 10, say military action has not gone far enough, while about one-quarter say it’s gone too far.Alice Swanson, a 62-year-old who attended Vance’s event in North Carolina, said she wants Vance and Rubio to run together in 2028 but favors the vice president.Swanson acknowledged, nonetheless, that Vance has been an outspoken opponent of interventionist policy but has been quieter on the subject since the war. “I can see both sides,” Swanson said after expressing full support for Trump’s decisions.She made it clear she sides with the president, calling the course he’s taken “spot on.” But she defended the vice president if he seems at odds with his past statements, noting politicians do it frequently. “They’ve all changed their positions at one point or another," she said. However, Joe Ropar, attending the Conservative Political Action Conference last week, said Rubio’s unequivocal support for the Iran war helped crystallize his preference for the secretary of state for 2028. “I’m not looking at JD Vance for president, and it’s for stuff like that,” said Ropar, a 72-year-old retired military contractor from McKinney, Texas. “I don’t 100% trust him.” Benjamin Williams, of Austin, Texas, said at CPAC that both Trump and Vance are “tied to this war." The 25-year-old marketing specialist for Young Americans for Liberty is looking elsewhere for a candidate.Whether the war becomes a political problem for Vance and Rubio depends on who ultimately enters the GOP's next presidential primary. While Vance and Rubio are currently considered the overwhelming front-runners, former New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu expects a half dozen high-profile Republicans to enter the contest. Sununu and former RNC Committeewoman Juliana Bergeron told The Associated Press that multiple Republican presidential prospects have reached out to them in recent weeks to discuss the political landscape in the state that traditionally hosts the opening presidential primary; they declined to name them. Republican strategist Jim Merrill, a top New Hampshire adviser for Rubio's 2016 presidential bid, predicted that Iran would become a flashpoint in 2028 — just as the Iraq war was for Democrats in 2004 and 2008.Still, Sununu is doubtful that Iran would become a meaningful dividing line in a prospective Vance-Rubio matchup given their status as prominent members of the Trump administration. Both will likely take credit if the conflict ends well, and both would look bad if it does not, he predicted. “They’re tied together with the success or failure of Iran. It doesn’t really separate one versus the other, at least I don’t think that’s how the electorate will see it,” Sununu said.Peoples reported from New York. Associated Press writers Matthew Lee in Washington, Bill Barrow in Rocky Mount, N.C., and Thomas Beaumont in Grapevine, Texas, contributed to this report. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 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U.S. News Tracy Brill Chris Sununu Joe Ropar Jim Merrill Marco Rubio Curt Mills JD Vance Washington News Alice Swanson Elections Politics Juliana Bergeron World News Benjamin Williams
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