Nashville, Tennessee — A line snaked around the first floor of the posh Four Seasons hotel in Nashville Monday evening as wealthy conservative donors eagerly waited their turns to ride an elevator upstairs to hear a special guest speak: the vice president of the United States.
JD Vance headlined a closed-door gathering for the spring summit of the Rockbridge Network, a secretive donor group that Vance co-founded in 2019 during his stint as a private investor. According to a source in the room, there were about 250 members of the donor community at the event, which cost at least $100,000 per person to attend.
Vance's remarks focused on his role leading President Trump's new anti-fraud task force, as well as the fast-approaching 2026 midterm elections and the challenge for Republicans to keep both chambers of Congress, the source told CBS News.
The vice president's appearance at the Rockbridge conference comes as wealthy Republicans gird for an anticipated blue wave in the midterms. Political groups aligned with Mr. Trump are expected to spend hundreds of millions of dollars in the next eight months.
But looming over the multi-day event was also speculation about a different election — the 2028 presidential contest. Fifty-three percent of respondents at the Conservative Political Action Conference last weekend said Vance was their preferred candidate in the 2028 Republican primary. Secretary of State Marco Rubio earned 35% support in the CPAC survey, coming in second place.
Rockbridge members are "the people that will be rallying around JD, and they want to back JD," said one conservative venture capitalist, granted anonymity to discuss Rockbridge.
A spokesperson for Vance did not respond to requests for comment.
The source who was in the room for Vance's remarks said he did not discuss 2028 "at all."
"It obviously wouldn't be too smart to do that," the source said.
In Nashville this week, a subtle blending of business and politics was on full display. Earlier in the day, Vance appeared at a Republican fundraising event in the city, according to someone familiar with the matter.
Then it was on to the Rockbridge event, where he mingled with megadonors and businesspeople who could be key to bolstering Vance should he run in 2028. Among them were billionaire heiress Rebekah Mercer and Omeed Malik, a business partner of Donald Trump Jr., a close Vance ally. Malik and Trump Jr. help lead 1789 Capital, an "anti-woke" investment firm that counts Mercer as a co-founder.
Rockbridge co-founder Chris Buskirk also helped launch 1789 Capital. According to Federal Election Commission filings, Make America Great Again Inc., the main pro-Trump super PAC, has paid more than $100,000 since last June for "strategic political consulting" to Thumos Strategy, a firm that lists its address as Buskirk's home in Arizona.
Vance appears poised to stand at the crossroads of those varying interests. "There is a Venn diagram where Rockbridge and 1789 meet, and they want JD to be the heir apparent," another conservative investor told CBS News.
Chris LaCivita, the veteran Republican strategist who was senior adviser to Mr. Trump's 2024 campaign, was seen mingling at the Rockbridge conference with Mercer, a Trump megadonor. He spoke on a panel about the midterms, according to someone familiar with the matter.
Soon after Vance's arrival, the MAGA country star Kid Rock was seen walking into the Four Seasons. Others spotted included Josh Gruenbaum, a senior White House official who has worked on Middle East diplomacy with Jared Kushner and U.S. envoy Steve Witkoff; Brazilian entrepreneur Tallis Gomes; and the venture capitalist and former Republican U.S. Senate candidate from Arizona, Blake Masters.
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