2028 is the Republican Party’s second chance

There has been a lot of discussion recently about the future of the conservative movement. To anti-MAGA principled conservatives and legacy Republicans who are feeling lost, confused or dispirited — and there are many — I remind you of one immutable fact: There will be an election for president in 34 months. According to the 22nd Amendment of the Constitution, President Trump is forbidden from being elected more than twice. That changes everything.

No matter how often Trump trolls about third terms or cancelled elections, he can’t change the calendar or the Constitution. For the first time since Spring 2016, there will be a contest for control of the Republican party and the direction of the conservative movement.

Elections matter. In fact, in American politics, they are the only thing that matters. This has been painfully obvious for the last 14 months of the second Trump administration. Trump and his MAGA movement were able to capture the Republican party and turn it away from Reaganite principles because he won the nomination and the general election in 2016. 

Some would argue that the party’s base had been edging towards populism for some time. Perhaps. But remember, the Republican Party nominated Mitt Romney in 2012. And does anyone doubt that the party would look very different today if someone other than Trump had won our nomination in 2016?

We are confident that, at heart, millions of Republicans still support the Constitution and the rule of law and want a government that will unite rather than divide Americans. They still support free enterprise and free trade, fiscal responsibility and a reduction in our national debt. And they still believe in peace through strength and want America to stand by its traditional allies, Ukraine, NATO, Denmark and our other longtime friends around the world.

We know that next year, as candidates for president come forward, one or more of those candidates will stand for these values and will work to redeem the party of Lincoln, Eisenhower and Reagan. And we will stand with them.

Yes, Trump will try to keep dominating and defining the Republican Party. But his power will wane when his name is no longer on the ballot. And no other candidate can unite and animate the unique base of support he has created.

The fight will be difficult. The MAGA movement will not go quietly. Victory is not at all certain. But the point is that there will be a fight. For the first time in a decade, traditional Republicans will have a fighting chance to take our party back.

So it is time to stand up. It is time for principled conservatives to re-engage. Get active in your party again. Run for party offices. And get ready to fight to win primary elections and caucuses in 2028 to nominate and elect the next great Republican president. 

Some say that our party will never come back; that the damage is permanent. Nonsense. Almost nothing in this life is permanent. And in politics, change comes with every election.

Traditional Republicans need to heed these words sometimes attributed to Winston Churchill, a great conservative who lost as many political battles as he won: “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

Chris Vance is a former chairman of the Washington State Republican Party and a former Washington State Representative. He was the state’s 2016 GOP nominee for U.S. Senate, and now serves as a senior advisor to Our Republican Legacy.