Fox’s Kayleigh McEnany Cautions GOP Against Coronating JD Vance in 2028: ‘I Hope We Have That Competitive Primary’

Appearing live from Turing Point USA’s AmericaFest, Fox’s Kayleigh McEnany cautioned the GOP against preemptively coronating Vice President JD Vance as the Republican nominee for 2028, adding, “I hope we have that competitive primary.”

During AmericaFest’s proceedings on Thursday, Turning Point USA CEO Erika Kirk announced her endorsement of the vice president for a presidential run in 2028, telling the crowd that they “are going to get my husband’s friend JD Vance elected… in the most resounding way possible.”

Speaking with Fox’s Martha MacCallum, McEnany called Kirk’s endorsement “powerful” before adding “a word of caution for the party.”

“I think it’s very important that the Republican party have a competitive primary,” she said. “It makes you tougher. We see how much weaker, in my opinion, the left was by not having a primary [in 2024].”

“I hope we have that competitive primary,” she stressed.

Nonetheless, McEnany claimed that Turning Point USA’s endorsement gives Vance “a huge leg up.”

She cited a Fox News voter analysis showing that “from 2021 to 2024, President [Donald] Trump had an 11-point gain among young people,” a stat she attributes “in no small part” to work by Turning Point, which was founded in 2012 by the assassinated right-wing commentator Charlie Kirk.

About the crowd at AmericaFest, McEnany said, “These young people are engaged. They are smart. They have an outlet here at Turning Point USA. They are inspired by Erika Kirk, and they are being drawn away from social media and back to the things that matter in life: Faith, hope, and truth.”

On Tuesday, an incredibly early poll released by The Argument/Verasight shows Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) beating Vance 51% to 49% in a hypothetical 2028 presidential matchup. Notably, the two-point gap is within the margin of error.

While speaking with Migrant Insider editor Pablo Manríquez on Wednesday, Ocasio-Cortez acknowledged the unreliability of early polls before adding, “Let the record show: I would stomp him. I would stomp him!”