The former president also considered Florida Sen. Marco Rubio among others.
After months of speculation, former President Donald Trump picked Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate. Vance, who turns 40 in August, is very young compared to Trump, 78, and President Joe Biden, 81.
“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
But who were the other candidates being floated? We’re breaking down some of the others he weighed to be his VP.
Who else did Trump consider to be his VP?
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott dropped out of the 2024 race in November and has since endorsed Trump. The two remain on good terms, and the former president has repeatedly praised Scott.
“A lot of people are talking about that gentleman right over there,” Trump said during his town hall in February, gesturing to Scott. “He’s been such a great advocate. I have to say this in a very positive way, Tim Scott, he has been much better for me than he was for himself.”
As the highest-ranking Black Republican in the GOP, Scott could have helped boost Trump among a pivotal voting bloc. Though Black voters have traditionally swung Democratic, there are some signs that this trend might be starting to shift. According to a The New York Times and Siena College poll last year, 22 percent of Black voters in six key battleground states, including Georgia and Arizona, said they’d support the former president in November’s election, compared to 71 percent who said they’d back Biden. While this might not sound like much, it’s notable given that Trump won just 8 percent of this demographic nationally in 2020.
In a CBS interview, Scott said he’d never ask for a cabinet position but declined to answer whether he’d serve as Trump’s running mate. “The one thing I want to do is make sure we win in 2024,” he told anchor Gayle King. “I don’t think about this from a personal perspective.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Trump were bitter rivals in the primaries, so it was hard to picture them sharing a ticket. The two spent much of their campaigns trading insults, but their feud started to cool off after DeSantis dropped out of the race in January. In his exit video, he threw his support behind the former president despite spending the past year calling him self-absorbed and ineffective.
Following DeSantis’ endorsement, Trump finally stopped attacking the Florida governor and retired the demeaning nickname “DeSanctimonious” he had for him. That’s when word got out that Trump was considering him as a running mate. DeSantis has echoed the former president’s combative style and “America First” policies on controversial issues like the border.
But it doesn’t look like DeSantis would have actually welcomed the job. He has repeatedly said he does not intend to serve as vice president. Two unnamed sources told CNN he’s considering making another White House bid in 2028.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem has been loyal to Trump for some time now — even if it came at the cost of her own ambitions. She even decided against jumping in the 2024 race once it was clear that the former president was running again. “I think he’s going to run. And if President Trump runs, I’ll support him,” she told CBS News in 2022.
Noem first gained national attention in 2020 at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic when she refused to implement mask mandates in South Dakota. In February, the Oglala Sioux Tribe banned her from its reservation in the state over the GOP’s comments in which she referred to the influx of migrants at the Southern border as an “invasion.”
Unlike Scott, she hasn’t been shy about wanting to take the vice presidential slot “in a heartbeat” and has suggested that having a woman on the ticket might give Trump an advantage. But Noem comes with some baggage — in late 2023, she was embroiled in a scandal over accusations that she had a years-long affair with former Trump adviser Corey Lewandowski. Then, earlier this year, she faced backlash about an anecdote she told in her memoir No Going Back about killing her family’s 14-month-old dog after deciding it was “less than worthless.”
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy unsuccessfully ran for the GOP presidential nomination before dropping out due to his inability to sway Trump voters. But he clearly wasn’t bitter about it: Right after his disappointing loss in Iowa, he wasted no time calling the former president and offering his full support.
“There needs to be an America First candidate in this race,” Ramaswamy said in January while announcing the end of his bid. “Going forward, he will have my full endorsement for the presidency.”
Ramaswamy is a political newcomer. Before entering the race in February 2023, the 38-year-old was unknown. Then, his campaign skyrocketed his national profile.
He quickly became known for his outspoken debate performances, but he doesn’t seem very popular among conservative voters. According to a Fox News poll last month, twice as many Americans disliked him as liked him.
Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard
Former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard was probably one of Trump’s most surprising picks as a former Democrat. In 2012, she became the first Hindu and one of the first two female combat veterans elected to Congress, where she served from 2019 to 2020. You may also recall that she sought the 2020 Democratic nomination before dropping out and endorsing Joe Biden for president.
Since then, she has left the Democratic Party, spoken at the Conservative Political Action Conference, filled in for host Tucker Carlson on his former Fox News show, and staked out a role as an outspoken critic of providing U.S. aid to Ukraine. According to insiders, Trump has already turned to her for advice on foreign policy and how to run the defense department should he win a second term in office.
“She appeals to Republicans who are skeptical of intervention overseas, which is now a majority of Republican voters,” Republican strategist Andrew Surabian told The Washington Post.
Florida Rep. Byron Donalds
Florida Rep. Byron Donalds is a conservative two-term lawmaker from Florida. Shortly after his election in 2020, he became part of what’s known as the “Freedom Force,” which positions itself as the counter to the group of progressive lawmakers elected in 2018 known as “The Squad.”
Though Donalds is relatively unknown nationally, he’s considered a rising star within the party for his staunchly conservative values, which he often proudly wears on his sleeve. His campaign website describes him as “a Trump-supporting, liberty-loving, pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment Black man.”
The Florida congressman was also among the 147 Republicans in Congress who voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election results. That’s not all: He supported Florida voting laws that have been considered by voting rights groups to suppress voters of color.
Through these actions, he won over many of his fellow conservatives and even floated to replace former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy last year. “We do not seek to judge people by the color of their skin, but rather the content of their character,” Texas Rep. Chip Roy said at the time. “The American people want a new face, new vision, new leadership, and I believe that face, vision, and new leadership is Byron Donalds.”
New York Rep. Elise Stefanik
As the No. 4 House Republican, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik was one of the first members of Congress to endorse Trump when he announced his third presidential bid.
She has become one of Trump’s biggest defenders throughout her political career. In 2019, she served on the former president’s impeachment defense team, and she also backed his efforts to overturn the 2020 election that led to the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
This, of course, hasn’t gone unnoticed by the former president. “She’s come a long way, and now she’s really, really with us,” Trump said in 2022, according to a source. The former president was also reportedly impressed with her intense questioning of three university presidents at a congressional hearing about antisemitism on campus. “She’s a killer,” Trump said in response to the event.
Stefanik has a couple of other things going for her that might appeal to voters and Trump — for starters, she’s 39 and considerably younger than Trump by 38 years (but who’s counting?). Due to her age, she’s seen as the next generation of the MAGA movement. At the same time, she represents New York — a solidly blue state that’s almost certainly not going to go for Trump.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has repeatedly denied that Trump campaign officials reached out to join the ticket. “I haven’t talked to them about vice president,” he said, though he also told NBC last month, “I’ll do whatever the campaign asks me to do.”
Rubio used to have presidential ambitions of his own. He ran for the White House in 2016, during which he had heated exchanges with Trump both on and off the debate stage. At one point, the Florida senator blasted the former president as a “con artist.”
“He runs on this idea he is fighting for the little guy, but he has spent his entire career sticking it to the little guy — his entire career,” Rubio said at a rally at the time.
But now the pair appear to have put water under the bridge and become friends: Rubio has become an ally and, at times, an adviser to Trump. The Florida senator has many pros: For instance, he’s seen as appealing to Latino voters, a bloc that historically leaned Democratic. But since he also comes from Florida, where Trump is a resident, he doesn’t exactly attract many new voters.
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton
Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton unexpectedly became a leading contender for Trump’s No.2. According to The New York Times, the former president privately praised the senator’s decade-plus experience in Congress.
But this isn’t exactly surprising: Trump has spoken highly of Cotton in recent years and even considered the senator for a spot in his administration in 2016. They went on to work together closely on several issues, including immigration.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum
Though the two were rivals, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum avoided saying anything negative about the former president when he was on the campaign trail. He also has a solidly conservative record on several issues — including abortion, and he signed a law banning the procedure after six weeks, including in the case of rape and incest.
However, unlike some of fellow Republicans, the GOP governor hasn’t agreed with Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was stolen. “I believe that Joe Biden won the election,” Burgum told NBC last year.
Even though he wasn’t selected as VP, he might likely be considered for various cabinet positions. “He’s one of the best governors in our country, and I hope that I’m going to be able to call on him to be a piece of the administration, a very important piece of the administration,” Trump said of Burgum during a rally in January.
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson
Ben Carson, who previously served as Trump’s former secretary of Housing and Urban Development, has continued to support Trump, even in the wake of the Jan. 6 insurrection.
He officially endorsed the former president last October and campaigned for him in Iowa. “Donald Trump believes in our freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and the right to keep and bear arms,” he said during his speech backing Trump. “So we can fix our country, and we can make America great again. And President Donald J. Trump is the person to do that.”
Carson was seen as a safe choice for Trump, given his popularity among conservatives. But he’s also no stranger to controversy — the retired Johns Hopkins neurosurgeon and 2016 presidential candidate has raised eyebrows in the past with some of his comments, including his suggestion in 2015 that the Holocaust wouldn’t have been as devastating if Jewish people had been armed with weapons.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders previously served as Trump’s White House Press Secretary before becoming the youngest governor in America at 40.
Since leaving Washington, D.C., she has remained in the national spotlight. Last year, Sanders delivered the Republican response to President Biden’s State of the Union address. Then in November 2023, she officially endorsed Trump during a campaign rally in Florida.
Like Stefanik, she’s seen as a rising star within the Republican Party, who can speak to suburban women. But so far, Sanders’ doesn’t seem interested in joining a ticket with Trump. “I am honored to serve as governor, and I hope I get to do it for the next seven years,” she said when asked about the possibility on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”
