Right-wing podcaster Candace Owens has emerged as an unlikely possible candidate among Republicans in the 2028 presidential election, according to a journalist who has conducted focus groups on the matter. Owens, once a loyal supporter of President Donald Trump, has caused waves in the MAGA base in the past year. She is known for unfounded conspiracy theories, including that Israel played a role in the September assassination of her friend and former colleague, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, and that the first lady of France, Brigitte Macron, is transgender.
Despite the controversy surrounding Owens, Sarah Longwell, a longtime political consultant and founder of The Bulwark, reported that she has become 'one of the break-out media stars of our era.' 'Her influence is increasingly not confined to MAGA Republicans,' Longwell wrote in a Monday article. 'In fact, over the last five years, few individuals come up more regularly than her as non-politicians who people see as a possible future president.'
Longwell, an anti-Trump Republican strategist, published some of her findings from hundreds of hours of focus groups that she conducts across the country. 'I think Candace Owens is great. I would vote for her in a minute,' a North Carolina voter named Mycal said in a February 2025 focus group. Mycal is a Trump voter who previously backed former President Joe Biden. Another Biden-to-Trump voter from North Carolina, Daniela, said in the same focus group, 'If we would have swapped out Candace for Kamala, they would have had this in the bag.' Daniela was referring to former Vice President Kamala Harris's 2024 presidential run against Trump.
Kim, a Gen Z Trump voter from Virginia, said in a January focus group, 'I am sure I will catch a lot of flack for this one, but I am a Candace Owens fan. I think she is a very smart lady.' The Independent has reached out to Owens and the White House for comment. Owens embraced the focus group data, but fell short of announcing any plans to run for president. 'Wow. Looks like President Trump's attempt to publicly shame me with a photo of me fighting an illness had the opposite desired effect,' Owens wrote on X. '10/10 would recommend!'
Owens was seemingly referring to an AI-generated image of herself on the made-up cover of Time's 'Vile Person of the Year.' Trump shared the image on Truth Social last month, writing, 'Her attack on the First Lady of France is despicable. I believe, in this case, without verification, she is an extremely Low IQ individual!' The podcaster is being sued by French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte after she baselessly accused the French first lady of being transgender.
Owens has 'endorsed, repeated and published a series of verifiably false and devastating lies' about the French president and his wife, according to a defamation lawsuit filed last year. While Trump has slammed Owens's intelligence, participants in Longwell's focus groups called her 'very well-grounded' and 'extremely articulate.' Owens has floated the idea of running for the Oval Office before. In 2021, she wrote on X, 'I love America. Thinking about running for President.'
But according to recent polls, the podcaster has not made the top four possible Republican contenders. Vice President JD Vance leads with 32 percent of voter support as a potential candidate in the 2028 Republican presidential primary election, followed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio with 15 percent, according to the 15 most recent polls analyzed by The New York Times. Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., followed with 13 percent of voter support, and then Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who briefly ran in 2024, with 6 percent.
