After months of speculation and debate, former President Donald Trump has just officially named his running mate on the 2024 Republican presidential ticket.
Sen. J.D. Vance, R-O.H., is expected to join Trump at the Republican National Convention and be formally declared the 45th president’s running mate.
Vance was among the final three finalist for the role, along with Sen. Marco Rubio, R-F.L., and Gov. Doug Burgum, R-N.D.
Both Rubio and Burgum were reportedly told early Monday that they were not Trump’s choice.
A source inside the Trump campaign told The Independent that Vance was “99 percent sure” to get the nomination. Meanwhile, Vance was seen leaving his Ohio residence earlier in a presidential motorcade around the same time —
Senator J.D. Vance leaving his home in a fancy motorcade, he’s considered a top pick for Trump’s VP choice pic.twitter.com/L0nndL74FD
— Ｎｅｒｄｙ 🅰🅳🅳🅸🅲🆃 (@Nerdy_Addict) July 15, 2024
UPDATE: Trump named Vance on social media at 3:00 p.m.
The formal announcement will come in a few hours at the RNC. It also comes just days after Trump was nearly assassinated during a rally in Pennsylvania by a gunman, who nicked the former president’s head with a bullet.
Trump will glide to the nomination at the RNC and is expected to formally announce his vice presidential candidate Monday at the convention — a sharp contrast to the chaos that has recently swept through the Democratic Party overseen by Trump’s rival, President Joe Biden.
Trump is leading Biden comfortably in almost every battleground state, RealClearPolitics polling aggregate shows. The 45th president has a 4-point average lead among voters in key swing states Arizona, Nevada, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia.
This is a breaking news story. More details to come.