Former President Donald Trump told the crowd of supporters gathered in Bronx, New York that he has four vice presidential picks in mind.
Trump said that Dr. Ben Carson, Sens. Marco Rubio, R-F.L., and J.D. Vance, R-O.H., and Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., were currently the leading contenders on his ever-evolving running mate list.
“You could take people like Ben Carson, people like Marco Rubio, or J.D. Vance. I mean, there’s so many. Elise is doing a fantastic job,” Trump told News 12 New York when asked about the status of vetting process.
However, the list isn’t completely settled, the 45th president said.
“But I could go on for quite a long time,” Trump said. “We have many people who would do a really fantastic job.”
The four represents a diverse pool that represent various backgrounds, regions, and bases of support within the party to complement the former president in his 2024 election campaign.
Carson, Trump’s former Housing secretary, could boost outreach efforts to African American voters after polls showed the ex-president made huge inroads with that crucial bloc since 2020. The famed neurosurgeon has already predicted more Black voters will “flock” to Trump this cycle, and served under Trump through his first administration.
Rubio, meanwhile, would bring foreign policy experience after serving on key Senate committees. But there are constitutional issues with Trump picking a fellow Floridian due to rules prohibiting presidential tickets from representing the same state.
Vance has been among Trump’s most vocal defenders amid his legal battles, even recently attending the Manhattan proceedings in the former president’s New York hush money case. The bestselling author and first-term senator has undergone an evolution from once identifying as a Trump critic to now embracing the “Make America Great Again” movement.
Stefanik, the youngest of the group at just 38, is a New York congresswoman that has rapidly ascended through GOP leadership ranks by fiercely aligning herself with Trump and his “ultra MAGA” wing of the party.
Some rival strategists even see appointing Stefanik as the “right” symbolic move for the former Queens-born president.
“His career, his fame, his show, all of these things are kind of associated with New York,” Democratic strategist Jack O’Donnell assessed. “So it seems only right that he would pick a New Yorker like Elise Stefanik to be on the ticket.”
Trump himself hinted he plans to make his final VP decision “sometime during the [RNC] convention.”
But always the media master, Trump knows by elevating the four front-runners names publicly now, he could be signaling other contenders to step up their game… and grab him news headlines.
Trump’s ultimate choice will prove critical not just for shoring up his party’s base, but also appealing to undecided voters who will decide a potentially close 2024 contest.
Expect Trump to continue to tease his running mater choice amid the heated rematch against President Joe Biden.