As President Donald Trump ramps up his comments about running for a third term, most Republicans in Congress wouldn’t entertain the possibility of a 2028 presidential primary that includes him.
Trump over the weekend declined to rule out the possibility of running for a third term in 2028, and on Monday he even took questions in the Oval Office about it, saying that he would “love” to run against former President Barack Obama. But on Capitol Hill, Republicans hesitated when asked whether they thought anyone would or should challenge Trump in a Republican presidential primary.
“I think you’re way out ahead of the game, because the Constitution clearly indicates that a president has a two-term limit,” Sen. Mike Rounds told reporters when asked if a Republican would challenge Trump in a primary. “But it is interesting to see how he has caught the attention of the American press.”
Sen. Markwayne Mullin told reporters that he “understands” Trump’s comments but doesn’t “want to make a story out of something that’s not a story.”
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“I don’t play hypotheticals, guys, we understand what the situation is,” Mullin said. “He says he’s not joking. But it’s tongue-and-cheek of the president. I’ve known him for a long time and I consider him a friend.”
During a phone interview with NBC News on Sunday, Trump said he wants a third term, and that he is “not joking” about there being numerous “methods” in which he could serve one. One of the scenarios he said was a possibility would be for Vice President JD Vance to run as president in 2028, and then for Vance to step down if the ticket won so Trump could resume in the role of president.
It’s a legal theory that lawyers and Republicans have largely scoffed at, even if some have said there may be some gray area in the Constitution that could allow him to do so.
“Well, the Constitution includes term limits for the president, so I’m afraid that’s probably the end of story though,” Sen. Josh Hawley told NOTUS. “If your question is, would he, could he run a third term? Yeah, of course, but I don’t think it’s gonna happen.”
Rep. Robert Aderholt not only said he was “interested” in seeing Trump’s options for running for office again, but wanted to see unity in the party, whatever the race looks like.
“I mean, obviously, as someone like myself, I never want a Republican challenger,” Aderholt said when NOTUS asked if he thinks someone should challenge Trump in a Republican primary. “It’s obvious it would, certainly I think it would, divide the party a lot. So the more we can stay unified, the better.”
Trump told reporters on Sunday night that he is not “looking at” staying in office past Jan. 20, 2029, while also emphasizing that there is demand for him to do so from his supporters.
“I have had more people ask me to have a third term, which in a way is a fourth term because the other election, the 2020 election, was totally rigged, so it’s actually sort of a fourth term,” Trump told reporters.
“I don’t even want to talk about it. I’m just telling you I have had more people saying, ‘Please run again.’ We have a long way to go before we even think about that, but I’ve had a lot of people.”
When pressed on if running for a third term “is an appropriate precedent to set,” Trump said that he doesn’t “even want to talk about” it.
There are other proposals circulating among Republicans for how Trump could extend his time in office. Rep. Andy Ogles introduced a resolution to amend the Constitution to allow Trump to serve a third term, though it’s gained little traction among other Republicans in Congress.
(Democrats, meanwhile, are split on if the threat of Trump serving a third term is worth addressing in their campaign messaging.)
Republican Rep. Jeff Van Drew told NOTUS that the process for Trump to serve a third term would be very complicated, and that he’s focused on “right now.”
“I understand there’s some people that are unhappy with what’s going on,” Van Drew said. “There’s a lot of people that are very happy. They’re exuberant and excited. But right now we just got to make sure, and he also did say that, that’s a long way off, let’s worry about the here and now.”
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Torrence Banks is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.
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