Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick posted a birthday tribute to Vice President JD Vance on Sunday evening, recalling the two men’s friendship dating back to the 2024 campaign trail and describing it as “an honor to serve alongside” the vice president. The message was the last of several birthday posts from senior Trump administration officials marking Vance’s 42nd birthday on August 2.
Lutnick’s post read in full: “Happy Birthday, Vice President Vance. We met and became friends during our time together on the campaign trail and during the transition. Together with President Trump, we planned what we knew would become the most effective administration in history. I never imagined it would be this much fun working with such great people. It’s an honor to serve alongside you, and an even greater honor to call you my friend. Here’s to another great year.” The post was published at 6:12 p.m. on August 2, 2026.
The friendship Lutnick described has a well-documented public history. Lutnick served as co-chair of the Trump-Vance Transition Team following the 2024 election, working directly with Vance during the period between the campaign and the start of the administration in January 2025.
Vance personally introduced Lutnick at his Senate confirmation hearing in early 2025, telling the Commerce Committee he was “thrilled” to introduce his “dear friend” and predicting Lutnick would make “an amazing Commerce Secretary.” Committee Chairman Ted Cruz, who presided over the hearing, echoed the sentiment, telling Lutnick he would “make us proud” while adding that getting to call him a friend made him “even prouder.”
During that same hearing, Vance recounted a story from the campaign illustrating the personal bond between the two men. He recalled Lutnick insisting he attend Cantor Fitzgerald’s annual 9/11 remembrance event in New York in the middle of the 2024 presidential campaign, despite Vance’s protests that he was in the thick of the vice-presidential race. “No, no. You’re coming. Trust me, you’re coming,” Vance recalled Lutnick telling him. Lutnick has led that annual remembrance since 2001, honoring the 658 Cantor Fitzgerald employees the firm lost in the September 11 attacks.
The relationship carried directly into Lutnick’s swearing-in as Commerce Secretary. Vance personally administered the oath of office to Lutnick in the Oval Office in February 2025, with Trump remarking at the ceremony that Lutnick “really understands something about business” and would focus on driving job growth.
Lutnick, the former chairman and chief executive of Cantor Fitzgerald and BGC Group and executive chairman of Newmark, told the Senate during his confirmation process that he would divest his business holdings within 90 days of taking office, saying, “I’ve made enough money in my life.” He was confirmed by a 51–45 Senate vote.
Since taking office, Lutnick has overseen a Commerce Department agenda built around tariff policy and domestic manufacturing investment, work that Sunday’s birthday post tied directly back to the planning he said he did with Trump and Vance during the transition. In testimony before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, and Science, Lutnick touted “trillions of dollars of capital investment” flowing into the country and cited multiple energy-sector investments exceeding $15 billion apiece across states including Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas, and Tennessee.
Lutnick has also announced major trade agreements under the administration’s “America First” trade policy, including a February 2026 deal with Japan to build what he described as the largest natural-gas generation facility in history in Ohio, generating 9.2 gigawatts of power, alongside a new deepwater crude oil export facility in the Gulf.
Lutnick’s reference in his birthday message to planning “the most effective administration in history” alongside Trump and Vance reflects the close, three-way coordination that has characterized the administration’s economic policymaking, with Vance’s fraud-prevention initiatives and Lutnick’s trade and manufacturing agenda frequently described by officials as complementary pillars of the broader America First program.
The tribute lands amid growing national attention on Vance’s political future. Reporting in recent weeks has described Trump as increasingly favoring Vance over Secretary of State Marco Rubio as his preferred successor for the 2028 Republican nomination, with one senior administration official telling reporters, “It’s become, ‘JD’s our guy, we gotta help JD.'”
Trump himself has moved closer to confirming that assessment publicly, calling Vance “most likely” his heir apparent while noting that Vance already holds the vice presidency. Some Trump allies and donors, however, have reportedly remained split between Vance and Rubio, with one unnamed Trump official quoted saying “the Mar-a-Lago crew are not JD people,” underscoring that the succession question, while trending toward Vance, remains a live topic of debate within the party.
Vance turned 42 on Sunday. Born James Donald Bowman in Middletown, Ohio, he served in the U.S. Marine Corps during the Iraq War, authored the bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” and was elected to the U.S. Senate from Ohio in 2022 before Trump selected him as his running mate in 2024 and he assumed the vice presidency in January 2025.
Lutnick’s message, closing out a day of birthday tributes from across the cabinet, reinforced a relationship that traces from a 9/11 remembrance event on the campaign trail to the Oval Office swearing-in ceremony to the present-day trade and economic agenda both men have pursued — a friendship Lutnick summed up simply on Sunday: “Here’s to another great year.”