Marco Rubio, Secretary of State and National Security Advisor of the United States, is "on resignation alert" following the Republican electoral disaster in the midterm elections, according to an exclusive report by The Independent published this Thursday. The British outlet claims that anonymous Republican sources and officials from the UK government suggest that Rubio is preparing to leave Donald Trump's cabinet to launch a presidential campaign in 2028.
The context is the Republican electoral collapse on Tuesday: the Democrats regained control of the House of Representatives and the Senate, even seizing historic party strongholds like Texas — the first Democratic victory in that seat since 1988 — and Kansas. NBC News projections placed the Democrats around 244 seats in the House.
The State Department firmly rejected the report. Dylan Johnson, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Global Public Affairs, labeled the information as "completely unfounded fake news based on invented anonymous sources." White House spokesman Davis Ingle also dismissed it as "false and unfounded conspiracy theories," asserting that Trump’s team remains united.
According to sources cited by The Independent, Rubio would currently be the strongest Republican candidate for 2028, ahead of Vice President JD Vance. An ally of the Secretary of State was direct: "Rubio cannot run while he is still Secretary of State, and being associated with the administration will only harm his prospects anyway."
Another Washington source indicated that Rubio needs to "distance himself from the war with Iran and attribute it to Trump," referring to the conflict that multiple analysts and Vance himself identified as the main factor in the Republican debacle. The Vice President was emphatic upon learning the results: "The reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone... The reason we lost is the war."
A senior source from the British government also shared their expectations with The Independent: "It seems unlikely that he will stay. He would be a strong presidential candidate, and we expect him to run."
The report also indicates that Rubio wouldn’t be the only one considering leaving: as many as four or five members of the cabinet could exit the administration. A Republican source warned that, with Democrats controlling both chambers, "we're only going to see efforts at impeachment, and no one wants to stick around for that."
Rubio simultaneously holds the positions of Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, being the only official to serve both roles at the same time since Henry Kissinger. Despite this formal position, the British outlet notes that he has played a more discreet role in the war with Iran, being overshadowed in key matters by special envoys such as Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
The report also introduces Cuba as a potential factor for Rubio to delay an eventual exit. A veteran political operative with extensive experience in Florida told The Independent that he would not be surprised if Rubio left the administration, but suggested that he might stay in office if it allowed him to help oversee the fall of the Cuban regime. This is an assessment from that anonymous source, not a publicly expressed intention by Rubio.
Rubio himself had tried to curb speculation in September when he told RCN: "I don't know what the future holds, but I have no plans at this time." That same month, a source close to him informed NBC News that he would likely be interested in a candidacy in 2032 or 2036, not in 2028.
The dispute between Rubio and Vance over the succession of Trump in 2028 has been at the center of Republican debate for months. In a CPAC poll from March 2026, Vance received 53% support compared to Rubio's 35% among the party base, although Rubio has greater backing among major donors.
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