Attendees leaving the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention on Friday said they heard something more than a pep talk for Republicans after their midterm losses. To many of them, Secretary of State Marco Rubio sounded like someone who might run for president in 2028.
Rubio gave no explicit indication Friday that he was preparing to enter the race. Before the speech, he denied rumors that he was preparing to resign, and he has previously said he would not run against Vice President JD Vance if Vance seeks the nomination.
His performance Friday night, however, did nothing to quell rampant speculation that he will throw his hat in the ring.
“It certainly does feel like he may be running, you know, for president,” Elbert Lin, a former West Virginia solicitor general, told the Washington Examiner. Lin said Rubio’s remarks about immigrants’ patriotism resonated with him as the son of immigrants. He also took a broader message from the speech: Conservative movements take longer to build than a single election cycle.
Audience members stand as Secretary of State Marco Rubio takes the podium for the Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture at the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention in Washington on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (Kaelan Deese)
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Audience members stand as Secretary of State Marco Rubio takes the podium for the Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture at the Federalist Society’s National Lawyers Convention in Washington on Friday, Nov. 13, 2026. (Kaelan Deese)
Rubio drew several standing ovations during the annual Barbara K. Olson Memorial Lecture, where he invoked Ronald Reagan’s early political troubles and urged conservatives to think in decades after the GOP’s midterm losses. But several attendees said it was the question-and-answer session afterward that impressed them most.
“That was more impressive than the speech,” said Ilya Shapiro, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, who praised Rubio’s ability to think on his feet while fielding questions, mostly from students. “I think if he runs, he’ll be formidable because he’s personable and he’s likable.”
Two prominent attorneys who were not authorized to speak publicly told the Washington Examiner they thought Rubio made a more persuasive case to the public for the war with Iran than President Donald Trump has made in recent weeks. Jack Etheridge, a member of the Federalist Society’s Columbus Lawyer Chapter, praised Rubio’s ability to connect foreign policy with his argument about American greatness.
RUBIO BUOYS CONSERVATIVE SPIRITS AFTER MIDTERM ROUT: ‘GREAT THINGS THAT LAST ARE BUILT IN DECADES, NOT ELECTION CYCLES’
“I think Marco Rubio this evening proved what I think many people believe, that he is perhaps the strongest, most articulate, in a certain way, most visionary spokesman for the administration, certainly in the area connecting foreign policy with American greatness,” Etheridge, who was a delegate for Trump in 2024, told the Washington Examiner.
Rubio discussed the U.S. operation targeting Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela and used the lecture to challenge the authority of the International Criminal Court. He called it a “fake court” and warned against attempts to enforce its rulings against U.S. citizens, invoking a line he attributed to the Roman general Pompey. “Stop quoting laws to men with swords,” he said.
The court has been a point of contention with the Trump administration since it issued a 2024 arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over alleged war crimes in Gaza. The State Department sanctioned four ICC judges last year over the court’s actions involving Israel and the United States.
Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law Houston, praised Rubio’s argument that international law can be used to constrain U.S. sovereignty. “I think he’s very right to say international law is here to just hang down America.”
Rubio closed his speech by asking conservatives reeling from the midterm elections to think back to December 1776, when George Washington’s army was in retreat and the general feared “the game is pretty near up.” Five years later, Rubio reminded the audience, Washington and his French allies forced the British surrender at Yorktown.
“Great things that last are built in decades, not election cycles,” Rubio said.
Some attendees left thinking about the next election anyway. Tristan Honeyborne, a London-based attorney, said another presidential bid by Rubio would come as little surprise to him.
“He’s run for president before, hasn’t he?” Honeyborne told the Washington Examiner. He said Rubio’s decision to stay and take questions made the appearance feel less like a stump speech.
Meanwhile, a former defense official who served under President George W. Bush also said he believed Rubio was poised to run.
The Federalist Society’s annual event is an epicenter for the legal world to convene once a year, and takes no political positions.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
