In the wake of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ decision to suspend his presidential bid and endorse front-runner Donald Trump, some of the former president’s supporters are urging him to announce a running mate.
Trump touched on the topic over the weekend, signaling that he has not finalized his decisions but promising that his pick would make sense when it is announced.
Trump: “No Rush” to announce VP pic.twitter.com/yNo4nxuPb4
— Illinois girl Desi (@d_ewinger) January 21, 2024
“I may or may not really [decide] something over the next couple of months,” he said. “There’s no rush to that. It won’t have any impact at all.”
As for his current list of potential running mates, Trump noted that one individual is currently at the top.
“The person that I think I like is a very good person, a pretty standard,” he said. “I think people won’t be that surprised, but I would say there’s probably a 25% chance that would be that person.”
Given his commanding lead in the presidential primary race and the negligible impact that a running mate has had on most previous elections, Trump downplayed the significance of his selection.
“It’s never really had that much of an effect on an election, which is an amazing thing — both election and primary,” he said. “It’s never really had much of an effect.”
During a Fox News Channel town hall event earlier this month, he signaled that the choice was already made.
“I can’t tell you that really, I mean, I know who it’s going to be,” Trump said at the time.
There has also been some discussion involving the candidate and his campaign surrogates of a former primary race rival joining the ticket, though Trump recently seemed to dismiss the idea of teaming up with former United States Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is still in the race.
Long-time Trump supporter Sebastian Gorka weighed in on the selection process, citing a “source” who identified the running mate Trump will pick.
After asserting that it would not be former candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, he added: “It’s going to be a guy. It’s going to be somebody that nobody is talking about, an amazing patriot who would actually be a real veep who can get stuff done. So, that’s all I’m allowed to say — but hopefully, it will be announced officially by the boss.”