RUFUS – Former House Speaker Braden Harris has announced that he will be running as a Nationalist hoping to win the Jesstopian Presidency during the 2028 Jesstopian Presidential Election, vying to defeat President Jay Laylin who announced his reelection bid on Monday.

Harris who served in the Jesstopian House Of The People served as House Speaker from 2019 until 2022, and since leaving office on November 10, 2025, will run to defeat President Laylin, but faces significant challenges as former Vice President Travis Loretti is vying for a chance to lead Jesstopia.

“I think it is important that we defeat the very evil that has subjected a vulnerable population to bullying and harassment for being who they are,” said former Speaker Harris. “For too long President Laylin and Republicans have trampled the rights of LGBTQ Jesstopians, forcing many to move to more LGTBQ-friendly states like New Shire, North Lorray, and Lorray. I will fight every day to restore the rights of LGBTQ Jesstopians.”

Former Vice President Travis Loretti calls his plans to seek office a “detriment to the Nationalist party,” citing that the Nationalists party currently is “struggling to gain ground before the 2026 Senate elections in September.”

“It is not a good idea for someone like Harris to enter this race while our party is collectively struggling to gain voters and more specifically ahead of the Senate elections scheduled for September,” said former Vice President and 2028 hopeful, Travis Loretti. “We must have solidly popular and strong candidate that has a chance to beat our President Laylin and his Republican trifecta government that he was afforded less than a year ago.”

Other Nationalists have said that a larger and broader list of candidates is good for the party and ‘allows the stronger candidate to be forced to reveal themselves through policy and polling. They also say that having a long list of candidates will also ensure that Nationalists have a good selection of candidates to select from and allow voters to make their choices “extraordinarily clear.”

Republicans currently have the highest polling with 33 percentage points higher than Nationalists. Recent polls show that Republicans could potentially sweep the Senate elections in September with predictions citing they may even have greater chance of retaining the Nationalist House come October 2028.

Nationalists face slumping voter turnout as more center Nationalists leave the party in favor of the Independent or Republican party. Nationalist Party President and former Jesstopian President John McCallum has ramped up efforts to recruit voters into the party.

“It is really a party that is getting slumping support, and that concerns me because we rely on voters to allow us to defend our nation and constitution,” said John McCallum. “We rely heavily on word of mouth and tv ads to recruit our voters. We have to get our outreach teams to go door to door and get voters registered. That is going to be the difference for our party in 2028 and other elections.”