GOP Senator Floats Run For President In 2028

Sen. Rand Paul is keeping the door cracked open for a long-shot bid in 2028.

The Kentucky Republican said he’s “50-50” on a potential White House run during an interview with CBS News Sunday Morning, signaling he’ll wait until after the next midterms before making any move.

“Yeah, I don’t know yet, so maybe they know something I don’t know,” Paul said when asked about speculation over his plans. “We’re thinking about it, and I would say 50-50. We’ll make a decision after the [2026 midterm] election.”

He made clear he’s not interested in a vanity bid.

“But I’m not going to do it just to do it. It would be, one, because we need to have a free market wing. We need to have a free trade wing in the party. And we need to have a wing of the party who’s not eager for war and tries to at least explore diplomacy as an option to war.”

Paul has increasingly broken with Donald Trump, particularly on tariffs and the administration’s recent military strikes against Iran, putting him at odds with much of the GOP.

“I think they’re more unified probably for war than they are just about anything else,” Paul remarked on “CBS News Sunday Morning.”

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky

The senator has been testing the waters for months. In a recent appearance on Sunday Night with Chuck Todd, he again pointed to 2026 as the decision point.

“We’ll decide after 2026,” Paul said.

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He added, “The most important thing to me isn’t necessarily me or what my role is, but that there is someone who’s advocating that international trade is good and makes us rich. That big is not bad.”

Paul is no stranger to presidential politics. He ran in the 2016 GOP primary against Trump but dropped out after the Iowa caucuses and hasn’t launched another bid since.

Even so, he’s kept the idea alive. As recently as last July, Paul said it was “too early to tell” whether he’d jump into the race.

“I think in the Republican Party, though, there needs to be someone representing that international trade is good for America, that we get richer and more prosperous in the world we trade,” he told Kentucky’s Courier Journal.

If he were to run, Paul would likely need to contend with Vice President JD Vance, who is heavily favored to win the party’s nomination.

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