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Secretary of State Marco Rubio will deliver his first major speech apart from his diplomatic duties Friday following the GOP’s blowout midterm losses, with some attendees at the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention eager to hear how he will chart a path forward as the 2028 presidential race draws closer.
“I think it will be an interesting speech to see what he says post midterms,” attendee Isaiah McKinney told Fox News Digital. “I’m expecting him to discuss both the successes and failures of the administration and what his plans are moving forward — especially as the secretary of state. I hope he addresses the foreign policy implications and how he thinks foreign policy played a role into that, into the election results.”
Rubio will deliver an approximately 45-minute speech for the Barbara Olson Memorial Lecture, whose previous speakers include former Attorney General Bill Barr and The Free Press founder Bari Weiss.
But another question weighs heavily on the minds of attendees at the annual conference in Washington, D.C., which attracts prominent lawyers affiliated with the conservative movement.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the media before departing from Homestead Air Reserve Base in Homestead, Florida, on November 8, 2026, ahead of his journey to France for the G7 Foreign Ministers’ Meeting. (Brendan Smialowski/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
“There are a lot of people in the room who are going to be wondering if he’s still planning on running for president someday,” Rachel Paulose, a former U.S. attorney and general counsel at Upper Midwest Law Center, told Fox News Digital. “That will be a question that will be top of mind for a lot of people.”
Republicans lost a net 41 House seats and eight Senate seats, with Alaska’s Senate race still undecided, marking the largest simultaneous loss in both chambers of Congress for Republicans in a midterm election since 1958. President Donald Trump has partly blamed the losses on voters’ opposition to the Iran war, and Vice President JD Vance was more direct about the war’s impact on the election results, though Rubio has yet to weigh in.
“The fact of the matter is that the Republicans got blown out pretty well in the recent election,” John Shu, a legal commentator who served in the administrations of former Presidents George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, told Fox News Digital. “And it’s possible that he may talk about the budgetary process. It’ll be interesting to see what the Democratic House and the Democrat Senate will do regarding funding of the State Department.”
Shu said Rubio could also address U. S. strikes on suspected drug cartels off the coast of Venezuela in fall 2025, which drew sharp criticism from Democratic lawmakers, including six Democrats with military or intelligence backgrounds who released a video urging service members to disobey unlawful orders.
Vice President JD Vance, left, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are viewed by many Republicans as potential 2028 presidential contenders. (Annabelle Gordon/UPI/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Kylie Cooper/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
“I don’t know that he’s going to address the domestic policies. I mean, he’s the secretary of state,” Shu said.
Trump has previously floated a 2028 ticket pairing Vance and Rubio, who at one point held four senior administration roles simultaneously and became the subject of a running internet joke about his expanding portfolio. Trump has also joked about who would top the ticket.
“I don’t know anything about who’s going to run in 2028, but what I appreciate about Secretary Rubio is he is traveling all around the country and all around the world to talk about the importance of American values, what binds us, what brings us all together, and the importance of our Constitution,” Iowa Solicitor General Eric Wessan told Fox News Digital.
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Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Rubio’s address at the Mayflower Hotel follows a trip to Paris this week for G-7 meetings focused on Iran, Ukraine and other international challenges.
“I think that Secretary Rubio already is a person of high standing for a lot of people in this room,” Paulose told Fox News Digital.
Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants, was first elected to the U. S. Senate representing Florida in 2010, and served until 2025, when Trump tapped him to become secretary of state.
Rubio ran for president in 2016, dropping out of the race after losing his home-state primary in Florida.
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“There are people who have worked for him, who’ve campaigned for him, who’ve believed in him for a very long time and who’ve seen him at his best, but I also think that there’s a real opportunity for him to deliver a positive message and a path forward for the movement,” Paulose told Fox News Digital.
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Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department and the White House for comment but did not receive a response before publication.
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