Vice President Vance is getting a moment in the spotlight amid the ongoing government shutdown, putting the potential 2028 GOP nominee front-and-center as a top messenger and attack dog for the administration.

Vance has mostly been behind the scenes in his first nine months in office, working on TikTok negotiations and serving as the administration’s main salesman for its signature policy bill.

With the shutdown, Vance has taken on a more central and public-facing role. He appeared Wednesday morning on CBS and Fox News, then went on conservative commentator Ben Shapiro’s show before making a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room to discuss the politics around the shutdown.

The heightened profile gives Vance a perch to bolster his credentials as the heir apparent to Trump, but also opens him up to potential attacks.

“Vice President Vance is widely known as the Administration’s bulldog, a natural, excellent messenger, maintains good relationships with his former Senate colleagues, and served in the Senate throughout multiple government funding debates,” a source familiar with the matter told The Hill. “It only makes sense for Vice President Vance to help President Trump drive this fight home.”

Since the government shutdown at 12:01 a.m. on Wednesday, it has been Vance, not President Trump, largely driving the White House’s messaging on the issue and in-person via television interviews and the briefing room appearance.

Vance has aggressively pushed the White House’s argument that the shutdown stems from congressional Democrats seeking to provide health care benefits for those in the country illegally. 

Democratic leaders have disputed those claims and noted that illegal immigrants are not eligible for any federal health care programs. Instead, Democrats have focused their demands on an extension of Affordable Care Act subsidies that are set to expire at year’s end and could cause premiums to spike if they lapse. 

Vance on Wednesday argued discussions over health care policy and keeping the government up and running should be separate.

“We’re willing to have that conversation, but I think it’s important to bracket the health care policy conversation, because it’s separate from the government shutdown,” Vance told reporters at the White House. “We think that we can open the government and then have the conversation about what best health care policy to fit the needs of the American people.”

In the same White House press briefing, Vance asserted the shutdown was caused by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-N.Y.) fear of a primary from his left, and he defended AI-altered videos shared by the president mocking House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) with sombreros and mariachi music.

Vance’s turn as White House messenger on the shutdown is arguably his most prominent perch yet in a role that is often blotted out by Trump and his dominance of the news cycle.

Since being sworn-in, Vance has been a frequent presence at Oval Office events and other gatherings with Trump. He has thus far avoided the kind of thorny political matters vice presidents are often saddled with, like when then-Vice President Harris took the lead on addressing the causes of migration to the southern border.

He was tasked with leading talks with China about the future of the TikTok app, which culminated last week with Trump signing an order to keep the platform available in the U.S.

Vance has been hitting the road in recent weeks to sell the benefits of the massive tax and spending law that Trump signed in July, traveling to Wisconsin, Georgia and North Carolina, all states with competitive Senate races in 2026. Trump has so far yet to travel to sell the bill, which has already undergone a rebrand.

The vice president has otherwise mostly gained attention for going on the attack. His first major moment on the foreign stage came at the Munich Security Conference, where he scolded European leaders over migration and accused them of suppressing free speech.

Vance has also been unafraid to use social media to spar with political opponents. 

He called “Pod Save America” host and former Obama White House official Jon Favreau a “dips***” as the two clashed in the wake of a shooting in Dallas.

Vance quarreled with MSNBC host Chris Hayes after The Wall Street Journal reported on a lewd letter Trump had signed in a birthday book for disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.

And the vice president hit back at MSNBC host Jen Psaki after the former Biden press secretary criticized those calling for prayers after a deadly school shooting in Minnesota.

But Vance’s increased public presence during the shutdown is offering a preview of the potential political landscape in 2028.

Democratic rivals have taken notice and made Vance a subject of their attacks and mockery.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in particular has gone after Vance, sharing a video clip of the vice president’s Fox News appearance to discuss the shutdown and altering it to make Vance resemble a Minions character with a squeaky voice.

Jeffries, the House Minority Leader, needled Vance during a Monday meeting at the White House after the president displayed hats that read “Trump 2028.”

The vice president is well positioned to take the mantle from Trump as the next Republican nominee, even though both Vance and Trump have downplayed any talk of future elections.

“A month is a lifetime in politics, and we have many months to go between now and the next presidential election,” said one Republican strategist.

“There’s no question if you’re the incumbent vice president who happens to be the chair of the finance committee at the RNC, there’s advantages to that,” the strategist added, referring to Vance. “But the reality is we are very early here.”