Press in Ireland, Mexico, Italy, Japan and Malaysia sees the race for 2028 opened after the congressional election, with open questions on both sides

Two days after the congressional election, the press in several countries is turning its attention to the 2028 presidential election. The basis is projections according to which the Democrats win the Senate and the House of Representatives. There is no official final result yet.

Ireland: no clear favourite. The Irish Times prints an analysis by James Politi from the Financial Times (Irish Times, 5 November). Vice President JD Vance is the pollsters' favourite to succeed Trump, it says. But he could be hurt by the fact that the administration started the war against Iran and has not brought down inflation. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is seen there as the most likely alternative. Among the Democrats, according to the text, Jon Ossoff is ahead with bookmakers, i.e. in betting, even though he says he has no interest in running.

Mexico: Democrats lack an offer of their own. Jacques Coste writes in a column for Expansión Política (5 November, 16:48 CET) that voters punished Trump for the cost of living and unfulfilled promises. The Democrats won more through rejection of the president than through their own popularity and must now find a programme of their own, he writes. Trump will try to influence the succession. His conclusion: “Estados Unidos no volverá a la ‘vieja normalidad’” (The US will not return to the “old normal”).

Italy: Vance remains the strongest. Stefano Graziosi writes in the magazine Panorama (5 November, 14:00 CET) that despite the defeat, Vance is still the strongest figure for the 2028 nomination. Trump's circle wants to prevent him from suffering the same fate as Kamala Harris in 2024. Other contenders such as Senator Ted Cruz or Florida's outgoing Governor Ron DeSantis could now enter the race.

Japan: race “completely open”. The opinion platform Agora (editorial staff, 5 November, 10:00 CET) reads a post by former Speaker Newt Gingrich on X as the start of the power struggle over the succession. According to Agora, Gingrich wrote that the race for the nomination had “完全にオープンになった” (become completely open). Agora interprets this as a downgrading of Vance.

Malaysia: broad field among the Democrats. The Chinese-language newspaper Oriental Daily (5 November, 08:16 CET), citing the AFP agency, writes that the MAGA coalition effectively fell apart in the election. Vance's closeness to Trump threatens to hurt him. As possible Democratic contenders it names, among others, Ossoff, Kamala Harris, Josh Shapiro, Gavin Newsom, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, JB Pritzker, Andy Beshear and Mark Kelly.

What the texts have in common is that the race for 2028 has begun and is open on both sides. They disagree on how much the defeat hurts Vance: Panorama sees him still ahead, Agora and Oriental Daily see him weakened. These are the views of the respective media and authors. Further press voices are under Reports, what the new Congress can do from January is in the timeline.