Excitement in MAGA world is building over the race to be former President Trump’s running mate as he hints a decision could come soon.
Attendees on the final day of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday will hold a straw vote over who they most want to see as Trump’s second banana. Several hopefuls, including Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), have spoken at the conference.
There’s more drama about the vice presidential pick than there is for the GOP presidential nomination because Trump is expected to trounce rival candidate Nikki Haley in her home state of South Carolina on Saturday.
“It’s going to be a real-life version of The Apprentice,” GOP strategist Ford O’Connell said of the veepstakes, with a nod to Trump’s former reality television show.
This week, Trump confirmed at least a half dozen top party figures are on his shortlist, including three of his former primary rivals.
Trump said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy — who all have dropped out of the race — are “all solid” when asked whether they’re in the running. The former president’s list also includes Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) and former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (I).
Stefanik wasn’t listed when Trump confirmed the lineup, but she’s been an increasingly cited name in veepstakes conversations.
Though a nominee’s vice presidential pick doesn’t usually tip the scales when it comes to the general election, this year’s Republican running mate could be particularly important because Trump, who has already spent a term in the Oval Office, can only serve another four years.
“Whoever that person is will have a leg up in 2028 as the potential Republican standard-bearer,” O’Connell said.
Notably, Trump’s ex-running mate, former Vice President Mike Pence, also ran against him in the 2024 primary and hasn’t endorsed him since dropping out.
DeSantis, who backed Trump after dropping out of the race last month, reportedly replied to the shortlist by cautioning that the former president shouldn’t play “identity politics” in making his choice.
“It seems as if this is something of an Apprentice sideshow going on right now, and you’re seeing auditions through different rallies or through different media performances,” said GOP strategist Matthew Bartlett.
Scott has become a top Trump surrogate and rallied alongside Trump in South Carolina, in a snub to Haley, who appointed Scott to the Senate when she was the Palmetto State’s governor back in 2012.
Stefanik, a top House Republican, has been making moves to showcase her staunch loyalty to Trump, including appearing with him on the campaign trail and positioning herself as a veepstakes favorite.
At CPAC, she said she’s “stood in the breach” for Trump and touted turning her district into “Trump and Elise country.”
Michael Bartels, a board member of the New York Young Republican Club who attended CPAC, said his top candidate is Stefanik, who he said has a record of “not betraying the MAGA movement.” At the same time, he said she has not “gone off the rails” and is keeping to a path that is “very electable.”
He added that someone like Stefanik could help with improving Trump’s standing among women, a voting block the Republican Party has particularly struggled with after the fall of Roe v. Wade in 2022.
“Having a woman on the ticket I think would bolster his electability in that regard. Does that mean that I think someone should be chosen because they’re a woman? Absolutely not,” Bartels said. “But speaking strategically, if you look at it just from a strategic point of view, yes, that makes sense.”
Gabbard served in Congress as a Democrat but has since shifted to more conservative views.
And Trump dropped Noem’s name when asked about a possible VP earlier this month, lauding that she’s “been incredible fighting” for him. Noem on Friday touted her record as South Dakota governor amid the veepstakes chatter.
CPAC attendee Sonny Driver from Florida said Trump has a “few good options,” but he views Noem as the best choice. He said she can bring more of a balance to the ticket with Trump’s “firebrand” demeanor.
“She’s calm, she doesn’t make waves, and she’s very conservative,” he said. “I think the suburban vote would probably go strongly for Trump if he picked her.”
Republican strategist Jason Cabel Roe said Noem and Stefanik in particular “seem to have been actively campaigning” for the VP slot, while it was “interesting” that DeSantis, who previously said he would not serve as running mate, was included in the contenders.
“[Trump] wants somebody who is not going to attempt to overshadow him and someone that will be unsparingly loyal to him, but you got to think that this is someone that brings some political value to the ticket as well,” Roe said.
And while putting a woman on the ticket — like Noem, Stefanik or Gabbard — could help Trump with suburban women, someone like Scott — “one of the most prominent Black Republicans in the country” — could help reach voters of color, Roe said.
Donalds, one of a small number of Black Republicans in Congress, at CPAC called the judge who ordered Trump to pay $355 million in his New York fraud case “stupid.”
“Whoever our vice-presidential nominee is going to be able to add to the ticket. President Trump is going to make that decision,” Donalds told The Hill at the conference. He said he’d be the former president’s running mate if asked.
“The thing I always say when you see names bandied about is: what do they bring to the ticket that Donald Trump does not already have? Because that’s what he’s looking for,” said Marc Lotter, former strategic comms director for Trump’s 2020 campaign.
“You’re looking for someone who can help the ticket, so whether that is geographically with a state or in a policy area or even with a demographic reach,” Lotter said.
Raising the stakes for Trump’s pick is his term limitations. He can only serve for another four years before maxing out, setting up his running mate to be a 2028 favorite if Trump secures a second term.
“Typically, vice presidential picks ultimately do not matter that much, yet we are in such a weird circumstance. Not only just a lame duck, but the age of both potential nominees being Trump and Biden, that the VP will get increased scrutiny and probably play an outsized role in the election,” Bartlett said.
Trump still faces one major hurdle on his path to the GOP nomination: Haley.
Despite losing to Trump in key states, Haley has vowed to stay in the race at least through Super Tuesday in March, when more than a dozen primaries and caucuses will take place.
Strategists say Haley’s continued bid has put her past the point of scoring even a position in a possible Trump administration, let alone a VP nod. The contest between the two has gotten particularly vitriolic as the race revs up, with Haley hitting Trump hard over his mental fitness for office and his comments concerning NATO.
Trump during a rally earlier this month referred to a prior comment he made conflating Haley with former Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — adding that “when I make a statement like that about Nikki, that means she will never be running for vice president. She will not be running with me for vice president.”
Haley has notably said she’s not interested in a running mate role.
“It’s unclear where the former president’s head is,” Bartlett said. “But again, this is going to be a vice-presidential pick that is probably more important than any other pick in our lifetime.”
Julia Manchester and Nick Robertson contributed.