Amb. Mike Huckabee for president? Why the unlikeliest 2028 candidate suddenly makes a lot of sense

Just like a lot of folks, I get tons of emails every day. But one specific email last week from the American Renewal Project grabbed my attention. It was an op-ed sent to 70,000 pastors by David Lane, the influential evangelical leader who helped organize the largest turnout of evangelical voters in history during Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

Buried inside was one sentence that immediately caught my attention: “We’ll throw Mike Huckabee’s name in the hat for 2028.”

Wait. What? Mike Huckabee? President? In 2028? The more I thought about it, the less crazy it sounded.

As the post-Trump Republican Party appears headed toward a major debate over foreign policy, America’s relationship with Israel will be under attack and it will be squarely front and center in the 2028 presidential election.

The growing non-interventionist strain of America First conservatism, most closely associated with Tucker Carlson, is surely going to trot out a ‘Woke Right’ candidate to make its case against America’s partnership with Israel

On the flip side, there will no doubt be a candidate (or candidates) who runs to fill the lane of defending America’s crucial alliance with Israel. Right now, there is deep skepticism (to say the least) that Vice President JD Vance will be in that lane but there are some other obvious candidates.

Marco Rubio could absolutely do it. As Secretary of State, Rubio has serious foreign-policy credentials and has been a forceful defender of the U.S.-Israel relationship. Yet, at this point at least, Rubio has indicated that he expects to support Vice President JD Vance if Vance runs rather than challenge him. We’ll see.

Then there’s Ted Cruz. The Texas senator has been one of Israel’s most consistent defenders in Washington and has increasingly raised alarms about antisemitism and anti-Israel sentiment on the political right. He would clearly be a solid candidate in that space.

But there’s someone else lurking out there whom almost nobody is talking about and that brings us to President Donald Trump’s current ambassador to Israel: Mike Huckabee.

At first glance, a Huckabee presidential campaign in 2028 might sound like yesterday’s news. The former Arkansas governor, Baptist pastor and winner of the 2008 Iowa Republican caucuses will be 73 years old. He’s already run for president twice and his daughter is now considered the rising political star of the family.

But look a little closer at what is happening inside the Republican Party, particularly over Israel, and suddenly Mike Huckabee doesn’t seem quite so far-fetched. In fact, he might be uniquely suited for the political fight that’s coming.

David Lane, the evangelical leader who initially brought up Huckabee’s name in his newsletter, tells me he sees it this way. “I don’t know that Huckabee will run in 2028, but if he did, he would start out as the frontrunner for the Iowa Caucuses in January.”

Lane believes Israel could become Huckabee’s calling card. “Israel is increasingly becoming a dividing line in American politics…support for Israel is being tested among a younger generation of Americans.”

That, Lane argues, is precisely where Huckabee could stand out. “That is precisely why Huckabee is uniquely suited for such a time as this. Huckabee can articulate the case for Israel in a way few national political figures can: not merely as a matter of geopolitics, military strategy or American national interest, but from the Biblical foundation that has shaped evangelical support for Israel for generations.”

Lane also points to Huckabee’s ability to connect Israel to broader issues important to evangelical voters. “He can explain why Israel matters, why the Jewish people’s connection to the land matters, why Christians have a responsibility to confront antisemitism, and why America’s relationship with Israel reaches deeper than the political arrangement of the moment.”

And, Lane says, Huckabee’s personal conviction could be just as important as his message. “More importantly, he can say it forcefully without sounding as though someone handed him talking points five minutes before he walked onto the stage. He believes it. That authenticity could become enormously important as antisemitism intensifies and the American consensus surrounding Israel continues to fracture.”

Point well taken because for all the conversation about who inherits MAGA after Donald Trump, there’s another question Republicans may eventually have to answer: who inherits the bulk of Trump’s evangelical voters?

To be sure, JD Vance would enter 2028 with enormous advantages if he runs. But some strongly pro-Israel evangelicals could have questions about the direction of America First foreign policy and the growing influence of figures on the right who are far more skeptical of Israel.

That doesn’t make Vance anti-Israel but it does potentially create room for someone to make an unapologetic evangelical case for the Jewish state.

Huckabee doesn’t need a briefing book to explain why he supports Israel, which is a Tier A issue for conservative evangelicals. This is part of his worldview. He has traveled to Israel for decades. He approaches the issue through his Christian faith. And now, as ambassador, he has firsthand diplomatic experience representing the United States in Jerusalem.

There’s something else Huckabee brings to this fight that shouldn’t be underestimated. He’s one of the best communicators conservatives have produced over the last generation. He’s funny without being frivolous. He can be theological without sounding like he’s delivering a sermon. And he can make a forceful argument without acting like he despises the person on the other side.

The pro-Israel candidate in 2028 can’t simply lecture younger America First voters or label everyone skeptical of intervention an isolationist. Somebody has to persuade them.  Huckabee is a great debater and while some may hate his position on Israel, it’s awfully difficult to hate Mike Huckabee. Unless, of course, you're Tucker Carlson. Then it’s easy.

Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council, tells me he believes Huckabee’s combination of experience and evangelical credibility could still have political significance. “Given Mike Huckabee’s consistent and steady leadership at every level of government, combined with the trust of Evangelical voters, there could be much more ahead for Ambassador Huckabee.”

Huckabee would also be difficult for the Tucker wing to dismiss as some Bush-era neoconservative. He’s a Southern Baptist preacher from Hope, Arkansas. A former governor. A populist conservative who was talking about the struggles of working-class Americans long before MAGA existed.

That gives him the ability to make a different argument. You don’t have to choose between America First and Israel. Supporting Israel can be America First. In short, Huckabee’s your friendly neighborhood Populist and Zionist in one.

That is precisely where Chad Connelly believes Huckabee could find an opening. Connelly was the RNC’s first-ever National Director of Faith Engagement and is now president of Faith Wins.

His group was responsible for registering more than 2 million new evangelical voters over the past two election cycles. “There is one alternative no one is talking about and I’m not sure he’s interested, but if Mike Huckabee were to run, he could appeal to both sides of the Republican coalition,” Connelly tells me.

Connelly doesn’t envision Huckabee simply becoming the champion of the pro-Israel faction and going to war with the non-interventionist wing. He sees the possibility of Huckabee bridging the two.

“He could make the case that supporting an important ally does not mean giving that ally a blank check. That approach could resonate with Republicans who want an America First foreign policy while still recognizing the strategic importance of Israel…Huckabee would be the ideal candidate to bridge the competing priorities rather than force the Republican coalition to choose between them.”

If Huckabee ever decided to test that argument, there’s an obvious place to begin: Iowa. Pastor Brad Sherman, a former Iowa state representative who ran for governor in 2026, says Huckabee’s name is already being discussed. “Mike Huckabee is among the names I’ve heard,” Pastor Sherman tells me. “Will he do it? I don’t know but his skills and rèsumè are impressive.  And no one is better equipped to speak to the evangelical community and bring calm to the tensions surrounding Israel these days.”

The state of South Carolina will also factor heavily in the 2028 GOP Presidential Primaries. Pastor Brad Atkins, the 2012 president of the South Carolina Baptist Convention, sees Huckabee as someone who could potentially bring competing factions together.

“It may very well take someone like Governor Huckabee and “his ticket” to unify those that are disenchanted with the current political climate and be able to truly unite around a pro-America and pro-Israel platform.”

Of course, the talk in political circles has actually been about another Huckabee. Sarah Huckabee Sanders is younger, a successful governor with strong Trump credentials, and there’s every reason to believe her biggest national political moments may still be ahead of her. She could indeed be the first female president in United States History. 

However, a Mike Huckabee campaign wouldn’t close the door on his daughter’s future. It actually could help lay the ideological groundwork for it, making the case for a pro-Israel, evangelical-friendly version of America First while allowing Sarah’s own political story to continue developing.

Huckabee could be something different: a 'cause candidate' stepping into the arena at a crucial moment when the Republican Party may be deciding what America First means when it comes to Israel, Iran and America’s role in the world. He could run because he believes this particular fight is worth having and this particular moment requires somebody willing to have it.

Will it happen? At this point, nobody knows whether Huckabee has any interest in running.  Plus, maybe Rubio changes his mind. Maybe Cruz runs.

Maybe Vance consolidates the Republican Party so thoroughly that there isn’t much room for anybody else but presidential campaigns aren’t always just about winning. Sometimes they’re about forcing a political party to decide what it believes.

In this case, it would be a candidate who can convince both sides that America First means being unapologetically pro-Israel. Those two ideas don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

If Republicans are going to have that argument, somebody is going to have to make the case. Why not Mike Huckabee?