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Since President Donald Trump launched his third bid for president in November 2022, many have speculated who he would choose to be his running mate and when he would make the announcement.
It now appears that the president has given a timeline as to when Americans will discover who may become the next vice president: the July Republican National Convention.
During an exclusive interview with News 12 on Thursday, President Trump announced that he would name the contender “sometime during the convention.”
The president even named four possible candidates, including Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, HUD Secretary Ben Carson, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., saying they “would do a fantastic job.”
“We have so many, I don’t want to do that, we have so many,” the president said when asked to name his top three picks shortly after his campaign rally in the Bronx.
Others rumored to be on President Trump’s shortlist include Gov. Doug Burgum, R-N.D., Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., who the New York Times reported Friday to be a late contender to the selection process because of his relatively low profile and experience.
Interestingly, although President Trump previously said that his primary campaign rival, former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley, was “not under consideration for the V.P. slot,” he told reporters during the rally that she would be on his time “in some form.”
“Well, I think she’s gonna be on our team because we have a lot of the same ideas, the same thoughts,” President Trump said. “I appreciated what [Haley] said. You know, we had a nasty campaign—it was pretty nasty. But she’s a very capable person, and I’m sure she’s gonna be on our team in some form.”
Haley recently announced Wednesday that she would be “voting for Trump” and that he should make efforts to court her voters from the tumultuous primary campaign.
Along with the former governor, other reports indicate that the president has taken others out of the running for the slot.
Republican Kari Lake is allegedly no longer being considered, per the Washington Post, as she is focusing on her bid for U.S. Senate in Arizona.
Gov. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., is also said to be out of the mix following her admission that she shot her family’s “untrainable” and “dangerous” 14-month-old puppy.
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy is reportedly a non-contender as well, according to Bloomberg. He is reportedly in the mix for a cabinet seat in the second Trump administration.
Moreover, it is unlikely that President Trump will select any official from Florida, as the 12th Amendment to the Constitution prohibits electors from voting for presidential and vice presidential candidates from the same state.
If President Trump selected Sen. Marco Rubio, Gov. Ron DeSantis, or Rep. Byron Donalds as his running mate, one of them—either the president or his running mate—would have to change their state of residence, or the Republicans would forfeit Florida’s 30 Electoral College votes to Joe Biden.