Gingrich: GOP’s massive loss takes ‘luster’ off Vance for 2028

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) says the massive Republican defeat in Tuesday’s elections takes “a good bit of the luster” off Vice President Vance’s expected candidacy for president in 2028 and leaves the GOP presidential primary in the next election cycle “wide open.”

“The scale of the Republican defeat is so great that it makes the race for the GOP presidential nomination wide open,” Gingrich posted late Wednesday on the social platform X.

“If the administration had won a big victory, Vice President JD Vance would have had an enormous argument to be the inevitable nominee,” Gingrich said.

“Now, with this go-slow strategy blowing up in Iran and his defense of Vivek Ramaswamy’s horrible, inhumane ad featuring his opponent’s mother attacking her own daughter, a good bit of luster has come off the bloom,” he argued.

Vance on Wednesday blamed the war with Iran for why Republicans got wiped out in so many gubernatorial, Senate and House races.

“The reason we lost is the war . The president himself said so last night,” Vance wrote in a social media post .

“If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest,” he argued.

“But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there,” Vance added.

Gingrich said the political momentum appears to be shifting to Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

“The number of people who want to draft Secretary of State Marco Rubio is staggering,” he added.

Gingrich said other potential White House candidates could benefit from the “luster” coming off Vance’s bid to become the next president.

“Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Ron DeSantis, Pete Hegseth, Glenn Youngkin, and a surprising number of people may decide this is their chance to take advantage of the chaos of the shocking defeat and seek to be the champion who can rescue the party and the country,” he predicted.

Cruz and Cotton are Republican senators from Texas and Arkansas, respectively. DeSantis and Youngkin are the governor and former governor of Florida and Virginia, respectively. And Hegseth is the secretary of Defense.