As speculation mounts over who former President Donald Trump may choose as his running mate if he wins the GOP nomination in 2024, Trump himself recently spoke about his potential pick during an interview on Real America’s Voice. Trump stated that he was searching for a “respected,” “common sense” person to join his ticket.
“You’ve got to be smart, you’ve got to be respected, you’ve got to have a conservative voice and common sense. We’re not talking about conservative, we’re talking about common sense,” Trump said.
While Trump did not mention any names specifically, a recent Politico report stated that an unnamed Trump adviser indicated that the former president is likely to choose a running mate “from three general lanes of candidates: women, conservatives of color, or a trusted adviser.”
“There are so many choices and paths. And there’s lots of time to go,” said Tony Fabrizio, Trump’s lead pollster in 2016 and 2020. “He’s not necessarily looking to balance the ticket geographically, but what he can do is pick to balance gender, race, ethnicity — a lot of different lanes there. It could be everything from a Tim Scott in South Carolina to an Asian American in California, or somebody Hispanic in Texas.”
According to a new report from the Washington Examiner, four Republican women could be high on Trump’s shortlist: South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and former Arizona journalist Kari Lake.
Sanders, who was the youngest governor in the United States and the longest-tenured press secretary in the Trump White House, flew up political draft boards after she delivered what Trump supporters agree was an “exceptionally strong” response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address on Feb. 7.
Noem was elected as South Dakota’s first female governor in 2018 after spending more than a decade in the House of Representatives and has made a name for herself as a leading Republican lawmaker in the so-called “culture wars.”
Stefanik, the current chairwoman of the House GOP conference, was elected as a centrist Republican in 2015 but, after serving on the president’s defense team during his first impeachment, has shifted increasingly to the right. She frequently touts her strong ties to Trump and even endorsed his 2024 run days before he announced his candidacy.
Lake is perhaps the strangest potential pick and one many current and former Trump advisers hope he avoids. The former Phoenix-area news anchor lost her Trump-endorsed 2022 gubernatorial bid against Democrat Katie Hobbs, but she only further endeared herself to the former president by repeatedly claiming that widespread fraud occurred in the 2020 election.
One name not mentioned in the Washinton Examiner report is Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who has been floated in the media recently as a potential running mate for Trump. NBC’s Jonathan Allen reported that several people have spoken to Greene and have been told “about her weighty ambitions,” Mediaite noted.
“The second-term congresswoman has managed to align herself with the top Republican in the House, Rep. Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), acting as one of the Republican’s most vocal allies in his fight to become House speaker.”
Greene’s inclusion on the list of potential running mates is a polarizing one, given her controversial past. Greene has made headlines for her espousal of conspiracy theories, including one that the Parkland school shooting was a “false flag” event. She has also come under fire for comparing COVID-19 vaccine mandates to the Holocaust.
Steve Bannon, the host of the top podcast “War Room” and an early leading political adviser to Trump, said that Greene is ambitious and sees herself on the shortlist for Trump’s VP. He added that when MTG looks in the mirror, she sees a potential president smiling back, paraphrasing late political reporter Cokie Roberts, who worked for NPR, ABC News, and other outlets.
While it is still unclear who Trump’s running mate will be, his criteria and potential candidates suggest that the former president is looking for someone who can appeal to a broad swath of the Republican base while bringing a unique perspective and skillset to the table.
Sources: ConservativeBrief, Politico, Washington Examiner, NBC News
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