CV NEWS FEED // During a Tuesday FOX News town hall in South Carolina, former President Donald Trump confirmed that his shortlist for 2024 running mates includes three of his now-withdrawn Republican primary opponents – as well as a former Democratic lawmaker.
“What qualities are you looking for in your vice presidential pick?” hostess Laura Ingraham asked Trump.
“Always, the first quality has to be somebody who you think will be a good president,” Trump answered.
“A lot of people are talking about that gentleman right over there,” he said, pointing to Sen. Tim Scott, R-SC, who was sitting in the audience.
“[Scott has] been so great,” Trump said. “He’s been such a great advocate.” Trump went on to call Scott “a fantastic person,” and joked: “He’s been much better for me than he was for himself.
“I watched [Scott’s 2024 presidential] campaign and he doesn’t like talking about himself,” Trump noted. “But boy, does he like talking about Trump.”
Scott previously ran against Trump for the Republican presidential nomination. He dropped out of the race in November and endorsed Trump in January, days after the frontrunner’s landslide victory in the Iowa caucuses.
Ingraham then mentioned that “the audience was asked who they think would be a good choice and various names came up.”
She stated that one potential running mate suggested by audience members was businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who also ran against Trump in the primaries. Ramaswamy suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump on the night of the Iowa caucuses after finishing in a distant fourth place.
Audience members also suggested Gov. Ron DeSantis.
After consistently polling in second place throughout his campaign, the popular governor made the decision to withdraw from the race and also lend his support to Trump.
Per Ingraham, the audience also suggested Rep. Byron Donalds, R-FL, Republican South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who served as a Democrat in Hawaii. Gabbard left the Democratic Party in 2022.
There was “big” support for Gabbard in the audience, Ingraham said. “Very interesting.” Ingraham went on to ask Trump if all of the aforementioned candidates are “on his shortlist.”
“They are,” the former president simply replied.
Gabbard’s inclusion on Trump’s shortlist is notable given she is the only non-Republican among the six potential candidates Ingraham mentioned.
Gabbard, 42, is a registered independent. She is an Iraq War veteran who is widely known for advocating for a more non-interventionist foreign policy.
Gabbard served four terms in the House as a Democrat representing a deep blue district in her home state of Hawaii. She even sought the Democratic nomination for president in 2020.
Then she made headlines after she called out now-Vice President Kamala Harris’ record as California Attorney General during a Democratic primary debate. The overwhelming consensus among observers at the time was that Gabbard won in the exchange, leading to Harris’ defeat in the primaries.
After Harris suspended her presidential campaign in late 2019, then-President Trump congratulated Gabbard, suggesting that her confrontation of the once-highly touted candidate Harris contributed to the latter’s decline in poll numbers.
Although once considered a “progressive” Democrat, Gabbard introduced federal pro-life legislation as well as a bill preventing men from competing in women’s sports shortly before leaving Congress.
Following her House tenure, she became increasingly critical of her old party, culminating in her decision to leave less than one month before the 2022 midterm elections. Upon announcing her split, Gabbard slammed the Democrats’ “cowardly wokeness,” calling the party an “elitist cabal.”
Despite not registering as a Republican, she endorsed several GOP candidates in the midterms.
There is no rule preventing a Republican presidential nominee from selecting a running mate who is not a party member. This in fact happened in 1864, when Republican President Abraham Lincoln chose Democrat Andrew Johnson as his vice presidential pick. The two men ran together on the “National Union Party” ticket.
Besides DeSantis, Noem appears to be the only other governor confirmed to be on Trump’s shortlist.
In 2021, many social conservatives criticized Noem for effectively vetoing a bill that would have prevented men from competing in women’s sports in her state.
As CatholicVote reported at the time:
Noem’s final rejection of the bill came just over a week after she issued a first veto. She worded the initial veto gently, presenting it as a modest directive about “style and form,” and hedging against accusations that she was caving under intimidation and pressure from national pro-LGBT organizations like the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association).
Noem’s gubernatorial tenure has also been challenged by accusations of “misconduct” and “nepotism.”
Donalds, 45, is perhaps the least known of the prospective running mates. A member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, he was first elected to the House in 2020 and subsequently re-elected in 2022.
If Trump decided to select either Donalds or DeSantis as his running mate, he would have to change his voting registration address to a state other than Florida. The 12th Amendment to the Constitution stipulates that the “President and Vice-President … shall not be an inhabitant of the same state.”
Trump is currently registered at his Mar-a-Lago resort. However, when he sought the White House in 2016, he was registered to vote in his longtime home state of New York.
