The next apparent heir to Trump’s powerful base that catapulted him to re-election

With former president and now President-elect Donald Trump unable to run again for the White House in 2028, Vice President-elect JD Vance appears to be the heir apparent to the America First movement and the Republican Party’s powerful MAGA base.

It was a point driven home by Donald Trump Jr., the former and future president’s eldest son and powerful ally of the vice president-elect.

“We are getting four more years of Trump and then eight years of JD Vance!” Trump Jr. said two weeks ago on the campaign trail in Ohio.

Vance, who was elected to the Senate in Ohio just two years ago, will likely be the clear frontrunner in the next Republican presidential nomination race.

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“The vice president will be in the catbird seat. No question about it,” longtime Republican consultant Dave Carney told Fox News Digital. 

Carney, a veteran of numerous Republican presidential campaigns over the past four decades, said that Vance “is the guy to beat.”

David Kochel, another longtime GOP strategist with plenty of presidential campaign experience, told Fox News that Vance is the frontrunner due to “the size and the scope of last week’s victory and the implied passing of the torch from Donald Trump.”

“There will be no shortage of people looking at it. But most people looking at it are seeing the relative strength of the Trump victory and the movement,” Kochel said.

Trump, in his victory speech late on Election Night, noted that he faced some criticism in July for naming Vance as his running mate, saying “I took a little heat at the beginning.” However, he emphasized “he turned out to be a good choice.” 

Additionally, with Trump’s support in a party firmly in the president-elect’s grip, the 40-year-old Vance will be extremely hard to knock off. 

However, Kochel noted that “nobody will completely defer to JD Vance. There will be a contest. There always is.”

Carney added that “there may be other people who challenge him [Vance]…there’s a lot of people who want to be president, but it will be very hard a lane other than the Trump lane.”

He added that a possible rough four years for the Trump/Vance administration would give potential Vance challengers “opportunities.”

However, he praised the vice president-elect’s messaging and accessibility on the campaign trail and that “he is the guy to beat, regardless of whether it’s a good four years or a rough four years.”

Carney also touted that the Republican Party has a “deep bench.” 

Here’s a look at some of those on the bench that may have national aspirations and ambitions in 2028, or beyond.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

The conservative governor of Florida was flying high after a landslide re-election in 2022, but an unsuccessful 2024 presidential primary run and a bruising battle with Trump knocked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis down in stature.

However, the term-limited 46-year-old governor, who has two years left in office steering Florida, proved over the past few years his fundraising prowess and retains plenty of supporters across the country.

DeSantis was also able, to a degree, to repair relations with Trump, helped raise money for the GOP ticket during the general election, and earned a prime time speaking slot at July’s convention.

While DeSantis may have his eyes on another White House run, with Sen. Marco Rubio likely leaving the Senate to become America’s top diplomat, there’s a possibility DeSantis could run in a 2026 special Senate election.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp

The popular conservative governor is one of the few in the GOP who can claim he faced Trump’s wrath and not only survived, but thrived.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, who is term limited, has two years left in office and enjoys strong favorable ratings in a crucial battleground state.

Expect to see the 61-year-old Kemp on the campaign trail across the country for fellow Republicans in 2026, as his national profile expands.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin

With his 2021 gubernatorial victory – the first by a Republican in Virginia in a dozen years – Gov. Glenn Youngkin instantly became a GOP rising star.

In Virginia, governors are limited to one consecutive four-year term, which means Youngkin has one year left in office. 

The 57-year-old governor, who hails from the Republican Party’s business wing but has been able to thrive in a MAGA-dominated party, likely harbors national ambitions. 

A first step could be a cabinet post in the second Trump administration after his term as governor ends.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas

Sen. Ted Cruz was the runner-up to Trump in the blockbuster 2016 Republican presidential battle.

The controversial conservative firebrand passed on challenging Trump again in 2024, as he ran for what was thought to be another difficult re-election bid, after narrowly surviving his 2018 re-election.

However, the 53-year-old senator ended up winning a third six-year term in the Senate by nearly nine points.

Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas

The Army veteran, who served in combat in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars before becoming a rising star in Republican Party politics, was considered to be on the larger list of potential Trump running mates.

The now-47-year-old Sen. Tom Cotton seriously mulled a 2024 White House run of his own before deciding against it in late 2022, putting his young family ahead of political ambitions. However, he did not rule out a future presidential bid.

Cotton is currently bidding for the GOP conference chair, the number three leadership position in the incoming Senate Republican majority.

Sen. Josh Hawley

The 44-year-old Sen. Josh Hawley, along with Cotton, is another rising conservative star in the Senate. 

Hawley is also a strong defender of Trump’s America First agenda and is thought to have national aspirations.

Former Ambassador Nikki Haley 

The former two-term South Carolina governor, who served as U.N. ambassador in Trump’s first term, was the first GOP challenger to jump into the race against the former president in the 2024 nomination race. 

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley outlasted the rest of the field, becoming the final challenger to Trump before ending her White House bid in March.

While the 52-year-old Haley ended up backing Trump in the general election, her earlier clashes with the now president-elect during the primaries left their mark. Even though she addressed the GOP faithful at the convention, her political future in a party dominated by Trump is uncertain.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

The first-term conservative governor of Arkansas is a well known figure in MAGA world, thanks to her tenure as Trump’s longest serving White House press secretary during his first administration.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the daughter of former Arkansas governor and former two-time presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, has also grabbed national attention for delivering the GOP’s response to President Biden’s 2023 State of the Union address.

Former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy

The multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur, anti-woke crusader and first-time candidate was one of the biggest surprises during the GOP presidential nomination race.

The now 39-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy, who touted during his campaign that he and Trump were the only two “America First candidates” in the large field of contenders, eventually dropped out of the race and became a major backer and surrogate for the former president.

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Others to keep your eyes on include Rubio, who ran for the 2016 nomination and will likely be nominated to serve as Secretary of State in the second Trump administration; Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2024 nomination but remains very popular; and Sen. Rick Scott of Florida and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who both mulled but decided against presidential runs this past cycle.

Also, not to be ignored – top Trump supporters Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida and Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, whom Trump on Monday named to serve as U.S. ambassador to the U.N., and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who appears to be headed to the Department of Homeland Security

Then there is Donald Trump Jr., the president-elect’s eldest son and MAGA warrior. However, the younger Trump is very close to Vance, which would likely prevent him from making any White House bid in the next cycle.

Shortlist of top contenders for critical role in Trump’s upcoming administration

President-elect Donald Trump has wasted little time in naming top White House and Cabinet officials to serve in his administration as he prepares to be sworn in for a second term in January.

It remains to be seen, however, who Trump will pick to head up his Justice Department, perhaps one of the most important vacancies to be filled in the next administration. 

Early contenders for the post include sitting U.S. senators, former Justice Department personnel and at least one top White House adviser from Trump’s first term.

Though each would bring widely different backgrounds and perspectives to the position, they all share one common trait: loyalty to the president-elect and a willingness to back his agenda and policies over the next four years. 

As the U.S. awaits a formal announcement from the president-elect, here are some of the top names being floated for the role of U.S. attorney general.

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Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah

Sen. Mike Lee, R- Utah, is considered to be a more conventional pick to head up the Justice Department. Lee is a high-ranking Republican in the chamber and would face a somewhat easy path to Senate confirmation, at least compared to some of the more controversial names that have surfaced.

But he may not be gunning for the role.

The Utah Republican told reporters last week that while he has been in frequent conversations with Trump’s transition team, he plans to focus his sway in the Republican-majority Senate on helping gin up support for Trump’s Cabinet nominees and helping select the Senate majority leader, a leadership election in which Lee, as current chair of the Senate Steering Committee, is poised to a play a major role.

“I have the job I want,” Lee told the Deseret News in an interview. “And I look forward to working in the next Congress and with President Trump and his team to implement his agenda and the reform agenda that Republicans have offered and campaigned on, and it’s going to be an exciting time. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”

John Ratcliffe

Former Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe is among the top names being considered to head up the Justice Department. 

Ratcliffe, a former federal prosecutor and a former U.S. representative from Texas, earned the spotlight during Trump’s first term for his outspoken criticism of the FBI and of the special counsel investigation overseen by Robert Mueller.

Trump tapped Ratcliffe in 2019 to replace Dan Coates as the Director of National Intelligence. The following year, he was tapped by the outgoing president to be a member of his impeachment team.

Mark Paoletta 

Former White House attorney Mark Paoletta served during Trump’s first term as counsel to then-Vice President Mike Pence and to the Office of Management and Budget.

Paoletta is also already working on the Trump transition team, including helping steer Justice Department policy in the next Trump administration, making him a potentially natural fit for the role.

Paoletta also made clear Monday that if tapped to head up the Justice Department, he would not tolerate any resistance to Trump’s agenda by career prosecutors and other nonpolitical officials.

In a lengthy post on the social media site, X, Paoletta said career employees are “required to implement the President’s plan” after an election, even ones they may consider unethical or illegal. 

“If these career DOJ employees won’t implement President Trump’s program in good faith, they should leave,” Paoletta said, noting that employees who engage in so-called “resistance” to Trump’s agenda would be guilty of “subverting American democracy” and subject to “disciplinary measures, including termination.”

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey

Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey is also among the names floated to lead the Department of Justice. Bailey was tapped by Missouri Gov. Mike Parson in 2022 to be the state’s top prosecutor after then-state Attorney General Eric Schmitt was elected to the U.S. Senate.

Since taking over the state AG’s office, Bailey has led dozens of lawsuits against the Biden administration and sought to defend the state on a number of conservative issues as well. 

Those familiar with Bailey’s ascent say his lower-profile career could be an asset as a possible U.S. attorney general, especially since the role requires Senate confirmation. He could be aided here by Sens. Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt, two Missouri Republicans who also served as state attorney general before their Senate service.

Since neither appear to be seeking the role of the top U.S. prosector, they could play a key role in stumping for Bailey in the Senate if his name does come up for consideration.

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Matt Whitaker

Former Acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker temporarily led the Justice Department after Trump fired former Attorney General Jeff Sessions during his first term.

Asked last week in a Fox News interview whether he wants the role, Whitaker declined to answer, saying that the decision is Trump’s to make. 

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“He’s going to want someone who he knows, likes and trusts,” Whitaker said. “He’s going to want someone who was there from the beginning,” he added, and who can help defend against what Whitaker described as “all this lawfare nonsense.” 

The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to Fox News’s request for comment as to who remains on its list of candidates to lead the Justice Department.

MSNBC hemorrhaging viewers since Election Day, sheds more than half of primetime audience

MSNBC’s reliably liberal audience has tuned out the anti-Trump network since Election Day with a staggering 54% drop in primetime viewership. 

MSNBC averaged 1.1 million viewers during the month of October but plummeted to an average audience of 736,000 on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of last week following President-elect Donald Trump’s historic landslide victory over Vice President Kamala Harris. MSNBC’s remarkable 31% drop comes as Fox News Channel’s viewership grew by 61% over the same time period. 

MSNBC also shed 26% of its year-to-date totals, but things got even worse in primetime. 

During the primetime hours of 8-11 p.m. ET, MSNBC averaged 1.8 million total viewers in October but viewership of “Alex Wagner Tonight,” “All in with Chris Hayes” and “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” have averaged only 808,000 total viewers since election night. The 54% drop represents more than half of the network’s primetime viewers, and MSNBC is also down 51% from its year-to-date totals while Fox News is up 58% in primetime compared to 2024 averages. 

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MSNBC is also down 16% among total day viewers and 57% during primetime among the critical demographic of adults age 25-54, which is most coveted by advertisers. 

“Alex Wagner Tonight,” “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” Chris Jansing Reports,” “Deadline: White House” with Nicolle Wallace, “Jose Diaz-Balart Reports,” Joy Reid’s “The ReidOut” and “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell” all had their smallest audiences of the year on Friday. 

It was also the smallest audience for “Alex Wagner Tonight” since the show launched in 2022 when MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow rolled back her on-air presence to only once per week. 

“All in with Chris Hayes” had its lowest-rated episode since May 10, 2016 on Thursday. 

MSNBC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 

A longtime TV news executive who asked to remain anonymous noted that MSNBC’s audience appeared to love to hate Trump during his first administration – but that doesn’t seem to be the case any longer.   

“As its poor post-election night ratings show, MSNBC should not expect a ‘Trump Bump’ this time around. Even liberals are rejecting its condescending tone and the divisive rhetoric of its new standard-bearer, Joy Reid,” the longtime TV news executive said. 

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MSNBC viewer Sharon Waxman, who is the founder and CEO of Hollywood trade publication TheWrap, wrote that the “media got it wrong” and she needs a break from the noise. 

“If you’re like me, you haven’t turned on the news since last Tuesday when Donald Trump won the election. Personally, I can’t bear to listen to another minute of wisdom from Joy Reid, my friend Lawrence O’Donnell or the admirable Rachel Maddow,” Waxman wrote. 

“I can’t do it,” Waxman continued. “I’m not saying I’ll never watch or listen again. But – am I alone here? – my entire body recoils from listening to more claptrap from the same claptrapping apparatus.” 

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MSNBC personalities have not taken Harris’ loss particularly well, as hosts and pundits have repeatedly tried to assign blame for President-elect Trump’s landslide victory. 

Stephanie Ruhle said Americans were gambling with the country’s future by choosing Trump as their next president. Claire McCaskill cried on-air after watching Harris’ concession speech. Joy Reid essentially blamed White women for Harris’ North Carolina loss and said Black women have “resigned from the save America coalition.” And Al Sharpton claimed that misogyny and racism among voters may have cost Harris the election. 

MSNBC host Jonathan Capehard said he was still “grappling” with how “someone was elected that ran a campaign that was openly hostile, openly racist, xenophobic, misogynistic, transphobic” while MSNBC’s on-screen graphic said “FINDING HOPE IN A DARK TIME.” Jen Psaki even said the Democratic Party over-relied on “never-Trump” Republicans and should’ve made more of an effort to reach voters who had left the Democratic Party.

This rhetoric came after MSNBC spent years promoting “never-Trump” Republicans, targeting hardcore Democrats and largely dismissing non-liberals. 

MSNBC recently touted a ratings victory, noting that the liberal network topped CNN on a presidential election night for the first time in network history. However, NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck feels it was simply an anomaly.  

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“While MSNBC thought they may have struck gold with the election night ratings, they should have realized by now that Americans only tuned in so they could see the meltdowns, not that they viewed it as consistently and intellectually stimulating television,” Houck told Fox News Digital. 

“During CNN’s tumbles in past years, they were falling behind reruns of ‘Golden Girls’ and ‘Peppa Pig,’ so it’s probably best if MSNBC doesn’t look at their ratings anytime soon if they want to stay anywhere close to their happy place,” Houck added. “Liberal viewers have to be emotionally, psychologically, and metaphorically distraught. They’re beyond forlorn.”

Houck doesn’t believe finger pointing and MSNBC hosts continuing to push far-left talking points will bring back progressive viewers anytime soon. 

“The somber excuses blaming everyone from working-class women to Hispanic men to conservative media seem to be serving as only temporary balms to the scorching results. Chris Hayes and Alex Wagner have a brand to commit to where the only change the left will have to do is go even further left, so it’s a stale product no one will want to listen to going forward,” Houck said. 

MSNBC has seen viewers jump ship on the heels of news they didn’t like in the past. In 2019, Rachel Maddow’s viewership took a dive when Special Counsel Robert Mueller declared there was no collusion between the 2016 Trump campaign and Russia despite the far-left host spending years pushing the Russian collusion narrative. 

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This time, Trump swept every battleground state after years of MSNBC hosts and pundits insisting that he was a threat to democracy. OutKick’s Bobby Burack feels that “Trump’s decisive victory demonstrated that the left-wing cable news networks have lost their influence.”

“MSNBC exhausted every resource at their disposal to stop Donald Trump from achieving victory, eventually stooping to a plot to depict him as the second coming of Adolf Hitler, the most ruthless dictator in modern world history. It didn’t work. The lies, the hysteria, and the besmirchment only made Trump more popular,” Burack wrote. 

All data courtesy of Nielsen Media Research. 

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Judge rescinds plans to take on senior status, prevents Trump from naming replacement

A federal judge in Ohio is rescinding his partial retirement after President Biden’s administration failed to nominate a replacement for him.

U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley had announced plans to take on senior status in October 2023, which allowed him to take a lighter case load until a replacement could be appointed. His decision to rescind his retirement now blocks President-elect Trump from naming a replacement once he enters office.

Marbley is an appointee of President Bill Clinton. He announced plans to rescind his retirement in a letter to the White House on Friday.

“A successor has not been confirmed, and I have therefore decided to remain on active status and carry out the full duties and obligations of the office,” Marbley wrote in the letter.

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Senior status is available to judges over the age of 65 who have completed at least 15 years on the federal bench.

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Marbley’s decision comes as the Biden administration is scrambling to appoint as many judges as possible before the Trump administration takes power in January.

There are currently 47 vacant seats in the federal judiciary, and there are 19 more justices who have announced plans to retire. Marbley was among the latter group.

The Biden administration has candidates to fill 28 of those seats, if their confirmation processes can be completed in time.

As of September, the Biden administration was barely out-pacing the number of judges confirmed by Trump in his first term. Trump had appointed 204 federal judges by Sep. 5, 2020, while Biden had appointed 205 by the same point in his term.

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Both Biden and Trump have put a renewed emphasis on the federal judiciary, each focusing on quickly facilitating as many appointments as they could during their terms. Their appointments during one term have rivaled those of their predecessors, who had double the time to confirm them.

Trump’s election victory goes beyond his gains in competitive battleground states

President-elect Trump flipped six highly competitive states in his election victory last week. But his gains with voters were not limited to the battlegrounds.

Trump improved his vote share across the country, starting with conservative areas but extending into deeply Democratic states.

It is a critical part of the story of this election: one where Trump built a broader coalition and led on two defining issues of the campaign.

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Trump gained in the battlegrounds and beyond, including traditionally Democratic areas

Trump gained in all seven of the battleground states. He gained 1.8 points in Michigan and Pennsylvania, 1.4 points in Georgia, just over a point in North Carolina, and under a point in Wisconsin.

(Trump’s largest gains are currently in Nevada and Arizona, two of ten states where there is significant vote left to count.)

But Trump’s best performances relative to 2020 were in reliably Democratic states. These states voted for Democrats, but by narrower margins than before.

His strongest improvement was in New York, where the former and future president gained 6.4 points. 

His county-level gains were spread across the state, but notably included an improvement in all five of the New York City boroughs (where, again, there are some votes left to be counted).

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He also posted a 5-point improvement in neighboring New Jersey, enough to reduce the margin of his loss to just 5.5 points. That is the best performance for a Republican candidate in more than three decades.

Look for New Jersey and Virginia (Trump +2.4 since 2020) to become a focal point in future elections, beginning with next year’s gubernatorial races.

Trump also took more vote share in Illinois (Trump +4.2 since 2020); another Democratic state with a highly populated urban area.

And as some pre-election polls predicted, the president-elect brought home another five points worth of votes in Florida, where Democrats fought hard for a victory just two cycles ago.

Just as he improved in the battlegrounds and left-leaning states, he also put up strong gains in states like Texas, Tennessee, South Carolina and Idaho. Trump posted a 3-point improvement in all four of those conservative states, with smaller improvements in over a dozen more.

In fact, as of this writing, there isn’t a single state in the country where Trump turned in a weaker performance than he did four years ago.

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Harris’ gains limited to a handful of disparate areas

So far, Harris has only outperformed President Biden’s vote share in one state: Utah, where she gained 0.6 points since the last election.

But even in Utah, Trump also performed about a point better than he did in 2020. It’s third party candidates who saw the most erosion. (And there are many ballots left to count.)

To find positives for Harris, you have to search for a smattering of counties across the nation.

The Vice President did between 2-9 points better in a few counties in the Georgia metropolitan area, led by Henry, Rockdale and Douglas.

She also improved in some of the North Carolina counties most impacted by Hurricane Helene, particularly Democratic-leaning Buncombe, but also Henderson and Transylvania. She posted about a 4-point gain in each.

Kaufman County, in the Dallas suburbs, also bucked the national trend. That Texas county swung about 6 points towards Harris.

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Harris posted a modest gain in Chaffee County, Colorado, otherwise known as the “Heart of the Rockies” (here, too, there are some outstanding ballots).

And there are signs that parts of Oregon and Washington could end up more Democratic than 2020 when counting is finished.

These are the exceptions to a clear rule: voters almost uniformly swung away from the Democrats this cycle.

Trump created a broader coalition and led on the top two issues

The Fox News Voter Analysis shows that Trump’s gains came from multiple groups, and that voters preferred him on two defining issues.

As the Polling Unit writes:

Trump’s victory was powered by his strength on the economy and immigration – two of voters’ top concerns. He was seen as a stronger leader than Harris in a time of turmoil, and voters remembered his presidency more fondly than their evaluations of the current administration. Trump ran up the score with his base while narrowing traditional Democratic advantages among Black, Hispanic, and young voters.

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The complete Fox News Voter Analysis is available on FoxNews.com.

Lifelong Dem, who voted for Trump, clashes with CBS reporter on key election issue

A Democratic voter in Pennsylvania insisted “nobody’s wages went up” after CBS journalist Scott Pelley questioned her vote for President-elect Donald Trump.

After Trump’s decisive win and massive GOP gains after the election, “60 Minutes” traveled to the swing state to reach out to ordinary Americans about how Democrats “misread the people.”

One voter, diner owner Roz Werkheiser, explained rising food costs as one major issue.

“The prices have went up, obviously because [of] the food cost. And for a family of, like, four people, five people, I have them come in and say, ‘Oh my God, I spent $100 with the tip for breakfast? That’s crazy.’ Which it is,” Werkheiser told CBS journalist Scott Pelley.

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She added, “My mother used to always say, ‘Gotta vote Democrat. You know, they’re for the poor people.’”

“You grew up in a Democratic household?,” Pelley asked.

“Yes,” Werkheiser answered.

“But you just voted for Donald Trump,” Pelley said.

Werkheiser replied again, “Yes.”

The economy was considered one of the top issues concerning voters ahead of the election, but Pelley argued with Werkheiser that it has actually improved.

“Inflation is down by more than half, interest rates are falling, mortgage rates are falling, wages are going up. Are you not feeling that?” Pelley asked.

“I don’t feel it,” Werkheiser said. “No, I don’t feel it. I don’t feel it at all. Everybody I talk to, nobody’s wages went up. But we had four years of this. I mean, four years. Gas was super high. Yes, it just went down now, but what– the past four– three and a half years it was up.”

While inflation has declined from its near-record levels in 2022, prices have not decreased to levels prior to the pandemic. According to a FOX Business analysis in September, food prices rose by about 22.8%, energy prices rose by about 42.4% and new vehicle prices rose by 19.5% in the Biden administration compared to Trump’s first term.

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The 2024 Fox News Voter Analysis found that the economy ranked as the second-largest issue among Trump voters behind immigration. Overall, the economy ranked as the highest issue among voters as a whole with a plurality of 39%.

A majority of Trump voters also believed the economy was “not so good” or “poor.”

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