Vance’s 2028 hopes took a hit in the midterms. He is now working to shed the MAGA label

Republican losses in the midterms have dimmed Vice President JD Vance's outlook for 2028, and he is now trying to put distance between himself and the Iran war that he says caused the defeat. In a statement of about 600 words issued Wednesday, Vance said the war was the reason Republicans lost, noting that Donald Trump had said as much himself, and that the party gave up the Senate for six years. He had privately doubted the conflict but publicly supported it, according to The Independent.

Bettors noticed. Kalshi put his chance of winning the presidency at 14 percent, down from 20 percent in early November, and his chance of the GOP nomination at 30 percent, down from 35. Secretary of State Marco Rubio sits at 23 percent for the nomination. In Ohio, Sherrod Brown beat Senator Jon Husted, and Amy Acton defeated Vivek Ramaswamy for governor after an ad featuring her estranged mother drew bipartisan criticism.

Reactions split. Representative Nancy Mace said neither Vance nor Rubio had a future, while Trey Gowdy called Rubio the night's only Republican winner. On the Democratic side, Senator Jon Ossoff's nomination odds climbed from 9 to 24 percent.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Independent’s reporting. Read the full story at The Independent →