Marco Rubio Denies Reports He Plans to Leave Trump’s Administration After Midterm Defeat

Marco Rubio, the United States Secretary of State, has dismissed reports that he is planning to leave President Donald Trump’s administration after the Republican Party’s heavy defeat in this week’s midterm elections.

Speaking to The New York Times on Thursday, 5 November 2026, Rubio said that serving President Trump for the whole of his second term had “always been my plan”. He said he did not know where the reports about his departure had come from, and he refused to discuss whether he might run for president in 2028.

The denial came on the same day that Bloomberg News reported that Rubio was weighing whether to leave the administration, and that he had already discussed the idea of stepping down with officials at the White House. The White House and the State Department both rejected that report in the strongest terms.

The episode shows how quickly the mood inside the Trump administration has changed since Tuesday’s elections, when the Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress. Within two days, Washington was full of talk about cabinet resignations, a reshuffle, and the race to succeed Trump in 2028. Rubio, who holds two of the most powerful jobs in the government, sits at the centre of all three conversations.

At a glance

• What happened: On Thursday, 5 November 2026, Bloomberg reported that Marco Rubio was weighing whether to leave the Trump administration and had spoken to White House officials about stepping down. Hours later, Rubio told The New York Times that serving Trump for the full second term had “always been my plan”.
• What Rubio said: “I don’t know where these things come from, to be honest with you. I love the work I’m doing.” He added: “I literally will not talk about 2028 anymore.”
• What the administration said: The State Department called the Bloomberg report “complete and total fake news” based on anonymous sources. The White House called it a “fabricated hoax”.
• Why it matters: Rubio is both Secretary of State and National Security Adviser — the top US diplomat and the president’s chief adviser on national security. His departure would be the biggest cabinet shake-up of Trump’s second term, and he is widely seen as a possible candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2028.

What Bloomberg reported

Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that Rubio and his advisers were reviewing his options after the Republicans’ midterm defeat, and that he had spoken to White House officials about stepping down. The report, written by Saleha Mohsin, Natalia Drozdiak, Eric Martin and Annmarie Hordern, said the officials had asked him to stay.

The report was careful about what it did and did not claim. It said Rubio had not made a decision about whether to quit his posts as Secretary of State and National Security Adviser, and that there was no timetable for a possible departure. The people who spoke to Bloomberg asked not to be named because they were discussing internal deliberations.

Separately, Britain’s The Independent reported that Rubio was on “resignation watch” and could step down to prepare a campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2028. The newspaper said Rubio would be competing against Vice President JD Vance, who is seen as the early favourite for the nomination. The Independent also reported that up to four or five cabinet members were thought to be considering leaving after the midterm results.

Another report, from The Washington Sun, said that Sergio Gor, the US ambassador to India and a close Trump ally, was emerging as a possible replacement for Rubio. Neither Rubio nor Gor has announced any plan to change roles.

The denials

The response from the administration was swift and unusually blunt.

Dylan Johnson, the Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs, called the Bloomberg report “complete and total fake news based on the word of anonymous sources, befitting a tabloid”. He said: “The secretary has not discussed leaving his role and he will continue to proudly serve in President Trump’s administration long after this fake news is revealed as yet another baseless hoax.”

Johnson also rejected The Independent’s report that Rubio was preparing a 2028 campaign, calling it “completely baseless” and “false”.

White House spokesperson Beni Rae Harmony used similar language. She said: “This fake news is nothing more than a fabricated hoax being peddled by anonymous sources with no factual information. Secretary Rubio is a fearless fighter for President Trump and the MAGA movement.”

Rubio himself then addressed the reports directly in his interview with The New York Times. Asked whether he was considering leaving, he said: “I don’t know where these things come from, to be honest with you.”

“I love the work I’m doing,” he added. “And plus I always laugh when they say he’s going to leave his job. I go, ‘Which one?'”

The joke was a reference to the fact that Rubio holds two jobs at once. He is both Secretary of State — America’s top diplomat — and National Security Adviser, the president’s chief adviser on national security. He took on the second role in May 2025, after Michael Waltz moved to become ambassador to the United Nations. The national security adviser role was made permanent in September 2026.

Why the rumours started

The rumours about Rubio did not come out of nowhere. They began the day after one of the worst election nights the Republican Party has suffered in years.

On Tuesday, 3 November 2026, Americans voted in the midterm elections, which decide who controls Congress halfway through a president’s term. The Democrats won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate, taking power from the Republicans in both chambers.

Midterm elections are often difficult for the party in the White House. Voters use them to punish a president they are unhappy with. But the scale of this defeat was striking, and it immediately raised questions about the direction of the Trump administration and about who might want to leave before the next two years get harder.

For a cabinet secretary, a midterm defeat changes the calculation in two ways. First, the job gets harder: with the Democrats in control of Congress, the administration will face investigations, blocked nominations and a much tougher fight to get anything done. Second, ambitious politicians start thinking about their own futures. The 2028 presidential race, which will decide who leads the Republican Party after Trump, is now less than two years away.

Rubio is at the centre of that calculation because he is one of the few Republicans who is both a senior member of the current administration and a realistic candidate for the next presidential nomination. That is why the reports about his future focused on two questions at once: was he about to leave the cabinet, and was he about to start running for president?

The 2028 question

Rubio has been mentioned as a possible presidential candidate for years, and the speculation has grown since the midterms. He is widely regarded as one of the possible successors to Trump, and as the main rival to Vice President JD Vance for the Republican nomination in 2028.

The Independent’s report suggested that Rubio would need to leave the administration before he could campaign, because a serving Secretary of State cannot easily run for president while also running American foreign policy. A Republican source told the newspaper: “Rubio will be gone after the midterms.”

Rubio has given mixed signals on the question. In an interview in Colombia in September 2026, reported by USA Today, he said he had no plans at that time to run for president, and that he was focused on his two current jobs. He has also indicated that he would step aside if Vice President Vance decides to run.

In his New York Times interview on Thursday, he refused to engage with the question at all. “I literally will not talk about 2028 anymore,” he said. “I just won’t do it.”

That answer settles nothing. It is the kind of answer a politician gives when he does not want to rule out a future campaign, but also does not want to start one today. It leaves open the possibility that he will run, while making clear that he does not want to discuss it now.

What is clear is that the 2028 race is already shaping up in the background of everything the administration does. Every cabinet decision, every foreign policy move and every public statement is now read in Washington as a clue about who will lead the party next. Rubio’s future is part of that story whether he likes it or not.

Who is Marco Rubio?

Rubio is one of the most powerful figures in the Trump administration, and one of the few people who holds two senior jobs at the same time.

As Secretary of State, he is America’s chief diplomat. He runs the State Department, represents the United States in talks with foreign governments, and is the public face of American foreign policy around the world. As National Security Adviser, he is the president’s closest adviser on security questions, coordinating policy between the State Department, the Pentagon and the intelligence agencies.

Holding both jobs at once is unusual. It gives Rubio an extraordinary amount of influence over foreign policy, but it also makes him a target. When things go well, he gets the credit. When things go badly, he is blamed twice over.

That is part of why the reports about his future matter so much. If Rubio were to leave, Trump would need to replace not one but two of his most senior advisers at the same time, in the middle of a difficult second half of his presidency. The search for replacements would itself become a major political story, and the new appointees would need to be confirmed by a Senate now controlled by the Democrats.

What happens next

For now, the official position is clear: Rubio is staying. He has said so himself, and the White House and the State Department have said so too. No resignation has been announced, and no timetable for a departure exists.

But the speculation is unlikely to disappear. There are three reasons for that.

First, the underlying facts have not changed. The Republicans lost both chambers of Congress, the administration faces two difficult years, and the 2028 race is already beginning. Those are the conditions that produce cabinet departures, whether or not Rubio is planning one.

Second, the reports about Rubio came from two separate news organisations — Bloomberg and The Independent — citing different sources. The administration has denied both reports, but the denials do not explain why so many people in Washington believed the story in the first place.

Third, Rubio’s own answer left the door open. He said serving Trump for the full term had “always been my plan”, but he did not say he would never run for president, and he refused to discuss 2028 at all. That is a denial of the reports, not a promise about the future.

The next test will come in the weeks ahead. If other cabinet members do leave, as The Independent suggested they might, the pressure on Rubio will grow. If a reshuffle is announced and Rubio is not part of it, the rumours will fade. And if Rubio starts making the kind of public appearances and speeches that presidential candidates make, Washington will take notice.

For now, though, the message from Rubio and the administration is the same: he is not going anywhere. The question is whether that message holds until the end of Trump’s term — or whether, like so many denials in Washington, it turns out to have been a statement about today rather than a promise about tomorrow.

Frequently asked questions

Is Marco Rubio leaving the Trump administration?

No resignation has been announced. Bloomberg reported on 5 November 2026 that Rubio was weighing whether to leave and had discussed stepping down with White House officials. Rubio, the White House and the State Department have all denied the reports. Rubio told The New York Times that serving President Trump for the full second term had “always been my plan”.

What did Bloomberg report about Rubio?

Bloomberg reported that Rubio and his advisers were reviewing his options after the Republicans’ midterm election defeat, that he had spoken to White House officials about stepping down, and that he had been asked to stay. The report also said he had not made a decision and there was no timetable for a departure.

What did the State Department say?

Dylan Johnson, the Assistant Secretary of State for Global Public Affairs, called the Bloomberg report “complete and total fake news” based on anonymous sources, and said Rubio “has not discussed leaving his role”. The White House called the reports a “fabricated hoax”.

Is Rubio running for president in 2028?

Rubio has not announced a campaign. He is widely seen as a possible candidate for the Republican nomination in 2028, and as a rival to Vice President JD Vance. In his New York Times interview on 5 November, he refused to discuss the question, saying: “I literally will not talk about 2028 anymore.”

What jobs does Rubio hold?

Rubio is both Secretary of State and National Security Adviser. He became National Security Adviser in May 2025, after Michael Waltz moved to become ambassador to the United Nations, and the role was made permanent in September 2026.

Why did the rumours start now?

The rumours followed the midterm elections on 3 November 2026, in which the Democrats won control of both the House of Representatives and the Senate. Midterm defeats often lead to cabinet changes, and speculation about the 2028 presidential race is already growing.

Sources

• 98.5 The River (Reuters) — https://985theriver.com/2026/11/05/rubio-tells-nyt-serving-trump-to-end-of-term-has-always-been-my-plan/
• Fullview — https://fullview.co.za/rubio-dismisses-reports-of-a-planned-exit-from-trump-administration/
• Times Now World — https://www.timesnowworld.com/us-news/marco-rubio-denies-resignation-rumors-trump-administration-article-156472250
• MEAWW — https://news.meaww.com/rubio-laughs-off-reports-he-may-quit-trump-admin-i-dont-know-where-these-things-come-from
• Clash Report — https://clashreport.com/world/articles/rubio-weighs-leaving-trump-administration-after-midterm-wipeout-3zygrv6vo2t
• ZeroHedge — https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/report-rubio-discussed-exit-white-house-quiet-loyalist-trump-loves-emerges-possible

This article is for general information and education only. It is not legal or financial advice.