Who is on Donald Trump’s shortlist for his potential vice president pick?
Many of Trump's former political rivals are now on his shortlist as potential running mates. Photo: AAP
Several candidates remain in the race to be Donald Trump’s pick for potential vice president ahead of next week’s Republican National Convention, although the odds-on favourites all share a distinct similarity: Being male.
The July 15 convention may prove too enticing a forum for the melodramatic Trump to announce his running mate.
One man, of course, who isn’t on the list is his former VP Mike Pence.
Pence, who has announced he will not endorse Trump this election, fell out with the former president by refusing to go along with his unconstitutional scheme to try to remain in power after losing the 2020 election.
When Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol building on January 6, 2021, Pence was forced to flee to a Senate loading dock as rioters chanted, “hang Mike Pence!”
Despite the treatment of their predecessor, there is a long line of hopefuls looking for Trump’s nod as running mate.
These are the favourites for the job.
Marco Rubio
Marco Rubio, a senator for Florida, offered a stark warning ahead of the 2016 election as he battled Trump for the Republican nomination.
“We have a con artist as the frontrunner in the Republican Party,” he said.
“I think he’s already an embarrassment.”
Like many of Trump’s potential VP picks, Rubio has been heavily critical of the former president in the past. Photo: AAP
Eight years later, he is now one of the frontrunners to join Trump on the ticket, appearing alongside the man who dubbed him “little Rubio” at rallies.
One major issue for Rubio is a constitutional rule that states presidential and vice presidential candidates “shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves,” with both Trump and Rubio hailing from Florida.
While it wouldn’t stop the pair from running, it would mean that electors in the state could not vote for one of the two.
One solution would be for Rubio to move and change his address, which former Vice President Dick Cheney did ahead of the 2000 election.
JD Vance
Vance, like Rubio, was once a chief critic of Trump and his influence on the Republican party, but has since had a turn of face.
After authoring his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, which become hugely influential in explaining Trump’s success in the states like Ohio, he won his home state senate seat in 2021 after being endorsed by the man he once called “America’s Hitler”.
He has since wholeheartedly embraced Trump’s false claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election, proposed spending $3 billion to finish the border wall and embraced the Great Replacement conspiracy theory.
Tim Scott
Another betting favourite to win the VP candidacy is Tim Scott.
The South Carolina senator was appointed to the seat by Nikki Haley in 2013 and is the first African-American to represent the state since the 1870s.
Scott has been stumping for Trump on the campaign trail in a bid to show his devotion. Photo: Getty
Scott made a tilt at the presidency in the Republican primary, but dropped out months later, without any serious contention, due to low polling.
He has supported a 20-week federal abortion ban that Trump has called problematic and introduced a bill that would deny food stamps to families if parents took part in labour strikes.
He has previously criticised Trump for his comments surrounding the murder of George Floyd and the Unite the Right rally.
Ben Carson
Carson is an accomplished former neurosurgeon who gained considerable fame and recognition for his work, before retiring from the field.
After conservative media organisations raised his profile, following criticism of Barrack Obama, he was an early frontrunner in the 2016 republican primary, before eventually dropping out and endorsing Trump.
He served in his former rival’s administration as Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
Doug Burgum
Billionaire Burgum is the wealthiest governor in the United States, with an estimated net worth of $100 million USD, after the sale of his software company to Microsoft for $1.1 billion in 2001.
Like many of the other candidates on Trump’s shortlist, he made a tilt at the nomination, before suspending his campaign and becoming an advisor to Trump on energy policy.
He signed a near-total abortion ban for North Dakota residents in 2023 and is a supporter of fossil fuels and gun rights.
The rest
Several other names have been thrown into the mix, including Tulsi Gabbard, Vivek Ramaswamy and Elise Stefanik, although pollsters and betting agencies have them as outside chances at best.
Mike Pence, Trump’s vice president in his first term, isn’t in the equation after denying the former president’s illegal requests on January 6.
