As former President Donald Trump continues to handily lead his rivals in polling half a year out from voting beginning in Iowa with its famed caucuses in January, a second race is emerging among Republicans both in the 2024 presidential field and outside it. The mad dash for who will be the eventual nominee’s running mate, the next possible vice president of the United States, is well underway in GOP circles as several top Republicans vie for Trump’s consideration for the important post should the former president win the chance to represent the party yet again at the top of the ticket.
Trump’s recent indictments, both in Manhattan and by the Justice Department, seem to have only strengthened his position politically among Republicans in recent polling. In an eventual running mate, should he make it to that point, he would obviously be looking for someone who would effectively back him and fight back against them. But a running mate selection is so much more than that, too. It is picking your possible successor, and it is picking a partner in politics both on the campaign trail and assuming you win in governing.
While Trump still has months ahead of him in the race, and still faces a challenge from several other presidential contenders on the GOP side, the recent struggles of GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have many Republicans already angling for the vice presidency job should Trump hang on–and should DeSantis and everyone else not get it together. With DeSantis’s own team now publicly admitting he might not win–Never Back Down adviser Steve Cortes admitted DeSantis trails Trump significantly and that Trump may very will win the nomination, per a Politico report, on a Twitter Spaces meeting this weekend — Republicans are sure to intensify the angling for the second spot on the ticket behind Trump.
The ever-growing list of possible vice-presidential candidates — some openly welcome the consideration or buzz, and others shun it — also helps Trump fuel intrigue that keeps him dominating the conversation and boxing out competitors. So, without further ado, in no particular order, here are a list of 14 Republicans who could possibly be up to the role of serving as Trump’s vice-presidential candidate in 2024 should everything fall into place as expected. Fair warning: This list is by no means comprehensive, and it is certainly possible that Trump could pick someone else — or he could pick from this list — or Trump could end up faltering and someone else wins the nomination. But, based on conversations with dozens of Republicans the past few weeks, this list is a pretty good indication of where things stand heading into Independence Day the year before the 2024 presidential election. Some of these people, even if they do not make the vice-presidential cut, could also emerge in various cabinet-level positions in a second Trump term too.
1.) Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC)
Republican presidential candidate Tim Scott delivers his speech announcing his candidacy for president of the United States on the campus of Charleston Southern University in North Charleston, South Carolina on May 22, 2023. (AP Photo/Mic Smith)
Yes, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) is currently running for president against Trump — and against the rest of the GOP field — but the two of them have generally gotten along fairly well over the years. Scott, a black conservative with an extremely powerful personal story, regales audiences coast-to-coast with how in one lifetime his family went from “cotton to Congress.” His grandfather literally picked cotton when he was young (not to mention that Scott descended from slaves in a previous generation), and now Scott is a U.S. Senator — previously a congressman — with a track record of getting stuff done in Congress.
Scott and Trump worked well together, too, during Trump’s first term in office, with Scott helping lead the way on the signature Trump tax cuts plan and other key pieces of legislation. One place that might be a weakness for such a partnership, now, though is while it was a success at the time Scott’s push alongside Trump as president led to the enactment of the First Step Act criminal justice reform plan. Trump has faced some heat on that from the right — particularly from DeSantis — but the two of them would almost certainly figure out a way around it if Trump were to pick Scott as a running mate.
Scott’s talented handling of establishment media outlets on matters of race — his appearance on The View last month was a master class, for instance — and his eloquent and direct speaking style (his speech responding to Democrat President Joe Biden’s first joint address to Congress was widely heralded by Republicans) are also plusses. That’s not to mention the fact that old-guard Republicans will feel a lot easier with Trump at the top of the ticket if he has someone such as Scott — a Senate Republican who his colleagues admire — sharing the ticket with him.
Watch the video here:
Aides in both campaigns, for what it’s worth, speak highly regularly of the other camp. It’s not clear if this brewing bromance will last, but Trump and Scott are definitely a good fit for each other at least as it stands right now.
2.) House GOP Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY)
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), chair of the House Republican Conference, speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) at Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center on March 4, 2023, in National Harbor, Maryland. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the House GOP conference chairwoman, has been a fixture in Trump-world for years now, dating back to his first term in office. Stefanik, who came into office as someone very close with now former House Speaker Paul Ryan, has completely left Ryan Republicans behind to fully embrace Trump — and she’s lost friends over it too. But when she saw what the left and Democrats were doing to Trump in 2019 during the first impeachment led by the now-formally-censured Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA), Stefanik rushed to Trump’s defense and helped dismantle the credibility of the impeachment promoters.
Trump’s first impeachment actually made many right-wing Republican stars — another New Yorker, now former Rep. Lee Zeldin (R-NY) would emerge from it a fighter who became last year’s GOP gubernatorial nominee in the Empire State — but Stefanik has ridden that surge to the front of the GOP pack of Trump defenders where she remains to this day. The first member of the House GOP leadership team to endorse Trump for 2024 — she remains the only one to have done so formally — Stefanik has been a fierce critic of the various investigations Trump finds himself fighting.
Stefanik also happens to be someone the House GOP leadership team regularly looks to for help guiding the slim majority through major issues, ranging from a variety of investigations — she is on the House Judiciary Committee’s select subcommittee on government weaponization for instance — to thorny policy fights such as the recently concluded debt ceiling compromise. And while she’s ditched Ryan at the roadside, Stefanik is very interested in education policy, one of the core policy tenets that has electrified the GOP base and rallied the general election electorate more broadly to the GOP side in recent elections, such as the Virginia governor’s race in 2021. A young mom, too, Stefanik could easily appeal to mothers in suburban America, making her story possibly appealing enough to land her at the bottom of a ticket with Trump at the top.
3.) Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH)
J.D. Vance speaks during a rally hosted by former President Donald Trump at the Delaware County Fairgrounds on April 23, 2022, in Delaware, Ohio. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Ohio has been critical for Trump’s political rise in 2016 and continued tenure atop the American right since, so it should be no surprise that the freshman U.S. Senator that Trump handpicked in 2022 — Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) — would appear on this list. Not that it matters, while Vance is not a woman or person of color, the freshman senator has quickly made major waves since taking office.
Vance has been carving out a unique space in the U.S. Senate by crafting major bipartisan populist policy plans on everything from rail industry regulation to the banking industry. He is viewed as a rigid defender of Trump’s working-class base–and a success story who rose out of abject poverty into the highest echelons first in the business world and now in politics.
He has also found himself at ease with Trump personally, and was instrumental in perhaps Trump’s biggest and boldest moment so far in this campaign: the former president’s visit to East Palestine, Ohio, in the aftermath of the train derailment that spewed dangerous chemicals into the air and water in the otherwise forgotten rust belt community. Vance, at Trump’s side on that visit, ushered the former president through the town devastated first by the train derailment and then again by Biden’s administration completely dropping the ball in response to it. Much like Trump standing up for the “Forgotten Man” of the working class in 2016, the extremely powerful moment catapulted the former president to the top of the polls–a perch from which he has not slipped since.
The fact that Vance was one of the first U.S. senators to endorse Trump — after Trump, of course, backed him last year in his primary a few weeks before the election — doesn’t hurt his chances either. As evidenced by Trump’s ongoing rift with DeSantis, Trump values loyalty perhaps above anything else – -and with Vance that comes in abundance, along with working-class heft.
4.) Vivek Ramaswamy
Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference, CPAC 2023, Friday, March 3, 2023, at National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Md. (Alex Brandon/AP)
The anti-woke businessman Vivek Ramaswamy has definitely turned some heads since entering the 2024 GOP primary field, and has emerged as one of the loudest and most interesting voices in the entire pack.
Another Ohio businessman like Vance, Ramaswamy has carved out a spot as being on the cutting edge of major news events. When Trump was arraigned in Miami after his federal indictment, for instance, Ramaswamy was johnny-on-the-spot outside the courthouse calling on the whole field to agree to pardon Trump if elected. He’s also rolled out some key policy plans that align with Trump in a big way, and of course he has the added Trump-era benefit of being a successful businessman with never having held office before.
His personal story is also powerful, having become a multimillionaire just one generation after his parents immigrated to the United States. Ramaswamy’s battles with establishment media figures — it was reportedly his beatdown of now former CNN anchor Don Lemon that was the last straw for Lemon at the network — also don’t hurt his chances.
5.) Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL)
Rep.-elect Byron Donalds (R-FL) arrives to the Hyatt Regency hotel on Capitol Hill on November 12, 2020, in Washington, DC. (Sarah Silbiger/Getty Images)
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) has done a lot of shocking things this year. After originally backing now-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on the first few of what became 15 rounds of speakership election ballots, Donalds became a candidate for Speaker himself. Then, as McCarthy and his team brokered a power-sharing agreement with Donalds and others, Donalds came back around and backed McCarthy again — forever changing the power dynamics in the House GOP conference in the U.S. House of Representatives.
Then, a short time later, Donalds became one of several — and easily the highest-profile one — House Republicans from Florida to shun their governor and instead endorse Trump early in the 2024 GOP presidential primary. Donalds turning against DeSantis to instead back Trump stung perhaps more than the others, too, given that he had just months earlier introduced DeSantis at his reelection night victory party in Florida — and given that Byron and his wife Erika were very close friends with Ron and his wife Casey.
But Donalds’ big behind-the-scenes moves up and down the presidential line of succession aside, he’s become a regular at Trump’s side on the campaign trail — and the two seem at ease together when retail politicking across the country. Donalds took Trump to a Southwestern Florida pizzeria earlier this year, for instance, and just last week was with Trump at a famous Philadelphia cheesesteak joint after the former president’s speech to Moms for America’s conference nearby.
This woman in Philadelphia speaks for all of us.
“MY 401(k) misses you.”
RT if you agree. https://t.co/JepgWv7CYV pic.twitter.com/j1hZiN9zHv
— Byron Donalds (@ByronDonalds) June 30, 2023
His personal story, too, is similarly powerful to many of the others on this list. Raised by a single mother in Brooklyn, he attended college in Florida before having some troubles with the law — and then finding his way into the finance world, where he rose his way up and eventually got elected to the Florida statehouse and then the U.S. House.
6.) South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference CPAC held at the Hilton Anatole on July 11, 2021 in Dallas, Texas. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota, a cowgirl who grew up working on her family’s farm, has become a conservative star nationally given her handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Noem, unlike some other governors who shot to national stardom with their COVID responses, never once locked down any part of South Dakota. The hard line she took on the pandemic helps her draw a sharp contrast with even Republicans like DeSantis or Texas Gov. Greg Abbott or Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp–both of whom unlike DeSantis are not running, at least not yet, for president in 2024–whose aggressive and early reopening plans for their states infuriated public health-obsessed bureaucratic leftists. Noem never closed anything in South Dakota, and just let everyone there do their thing and life went on mostly as normal in the spread out upper midwestern plains state.
Noem has also staked out positions putting her crosswise with the Chinese Communist Party–she sought to ban China from buying land in her state this year, but well-connected Big Agriculture lobbyists blocked it–and has been a fixture at conservative gatherings like CPAC and Turning Point USA conferences.
Noem also faced some criticism from some on the right over how she handled a transgender bill, something she addressed in a 2021 long-form video special with Breitbart News in which she said “if President Trump runs again, I certainly will support him” even though she has not yet formally backed Trump for 2024.
7.) Former Vice President Mike Pence
Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the annual leadership meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Friday, Nov. 18, 2022, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
This one might sound crazy, but it really is not–in fact, for their entire term together, Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence got along, very well in fact. Until January 6, 2021–after the 2020 election and when it was clear Biden would be taking office in exactly two weeks.
Pence and Trump have disagreed over that day, and how it was handled, since then. Pence, in announcing his own campaign for president in 2024 in Iowa last month, even said Trump should “never” be president again–but in an interview with Breitbart News after the speech said he would in fact support Trump if he was the nominee (or whoever the nominee was, though he obviously wants it to be himself). So, except for that one disagreement–although a pretty big one clearly–Trump and Pence really got along together well during their time in office.
In fact, Pence was instrumental to many of Trump’s big policy wins from a variety of deals he helped Trump negotiate–U.S.M.C.A to replace NAFTA, the various northern triangle agreements with countries like Guatemala, the Remain-in-Mexico plan, efforts to push European NATO partners to pay more for their national defense–to helping Trump secure confirmation of three U.S. Supreme Court Justices to holding the line on being tough on the Chinese Communist Party and more, Pence and Trump were a match made for American politics. Until January 6.
So, could the two of them get over the other’s immovable positions on this to come back together and see the reunion of the century and storm their way back into the White House? It’s possible, however unlikely it may seem now. Pence, like Scott does, reassures old guard traditional Republicans that there is in fact a steady hand on the ship too, energizes Evangelical Christians, and has a knack for getting stuff done up on Capitol Hill (where he spent years before he was later elected governor of Indiana, the job from which Trump plucked him for this role). Then, there’s also the clear history the two of them have working together–they know each other, they know each other’s styles, they know how to work together, and frankly the American people know this ticket well enough to have elected it in 2016 and voted for it more than 75 million times in 2020 despite the disastrous ending. So, while it may seem implausible now, crazier things have happened in Trumpworld than a Trump-Pence reunion.
8.) Kari Lake
Arizona Republican gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake takes part in a campaign rally attended by former U.S. President Donald Trump at Legacy Sports USA on October 09, 2022 in Mesa, Arizona. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
The 2022 GOP gubernatorial nominee in Arizona, Kari Lake, has lined up as one of Trump’s biggest boosters across the country, taking her TV-anchor communication talents on the road to help her pick for president win the nomination.
Lake has been touring early presidential states to campaign for Trump, hitting places like Iowa with multiple stops. She’s also just released a book, Unafraid: Just Getting Started.Lake said in a Breitbart News Saturday interview this past weekend that she is considering running for U.S. Senate in Arizona next year–she has not announced a campaign yet–but she could also if she passes on that be a serious contender for the bottom of a Trump-topped ticket.
Lake’s communication style connects very well with base GOP voters, and her history in television news helps her do so–something she talks about in the book.
9.) Ric Grenell
Then-United States ambassador in Germany Richard Grenell talks with the Associated Press during an interview in Berlin, Germany, on August 21, 2018. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Ric Grenell, who served as U.S. ambassador to Germany under Trump then later as the acting Director of National Intelligence (DNI), is someone Trump very recently praised as a loyal and effective staffer. In an interview with Fox News Digital–which came after his recent interview with Fox’s Bret Baier when this topic first came up–Trump rattled off a handful of names, including Grenell, as one of the effective and loyal staffers as compared with the handful he said who went rogue against him.
Grenell’s successful tenure as DNI was also in and of itself a success for Trump himself, too. In fact, Grenell was the first-ever openly gay cabinet official in American history (Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, sadly for Biden, was second to Trump putting Grenell in as DNI). Grenell’s tenure at DNI, too, was marked by the rapid unravelling of the Russian collusion hoax, and Grenell helped Trump quickly declassify scores of documents that proved the then-president’s innocence.
Having a diplomat in the number two slot–Grenell of course was an ambassador and has a long and storied State Department career–could be beneficial too in terms of things like ending the Russian war in Ukraine, which Trump has promised to do immediately upon taking office. It also does not hurt Grenell’s case that he is reportedly very close with former First Lady Melania Trump–the two are said to be friends–and with other members of the Trump family.
10.) Dr. Ben Carson
Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson testifies during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, on June 9, 2020. (Win McNamee/Pool via AP)
Dr. Ben Carson, who ran for president in 2016 then served in Trump’s administration as the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), is beloved in Trump-world. One of the few cabinet officials who served the entire term without issue, Carson has been one of Trump’s strongest political allies since nearly the very beginning of things.
Carson had a very similar story to Trump in the beginning in the 2016 campaign, and for a time even surged into the lead in late 2015 but ended up dropping out after the first few states showed the contest winnowing down to Trump versus Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Carson ended up backing Trump over Cruz, and his support was critical for the general election. He hosted Trump on a trip to Detroit where Trump spoke to a black church and then visited the boyhood home of Carson.
Carson, a world-renowned neurosurgeon before his entrance into politics, seems unlikely to ever run for president again given the fact he is now 71 years old–and would be 77 come election day in November 2028–so he could help Trump bridge the gap to the next generation by not elevating someone to be next in line behind Trump thereby helping Trump keep the party together.
11.) Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)
Sen. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican from Tennessee, speaks at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on April 7, 2022. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg)
The senior U.S. Senator from Tennessee, Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), was the first U.S. Senator Trump got elected into an open seat during his presidency. Trump backed Blackburn, then a congresswoman, for the U.S. Senate seat his arch-rival then-Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) was vacating in 2018. Some Democrats hoped that former Democrat Gov. Phil Bredesen would be able to mount a serious challenge against her, but they failed–and Blackburn prevailed, surging into the U.S. Senate in the wake of failed leftist efforts to tank the nomination of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
Tennessee has since become almost the crown jewel state for Trump remaking the GOP in his image. Two years later, in 2020, another Trump critic–longtime then-Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)–stepped aside and Trump’s ambassador to Japan, now Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-TN), ended up winning the primary and then the general election in 2020. Right alongside Trump, who backed Hagerty, was Blackburn campaigning for Trump’s pick to make sure he held off a well-funded primary challenge.
Now, Blackburn is one of the more than 10 U.S. Senators backing Trump for the presidency again in 2024. This cycle is very different for Trump than 2016 in that regard, in that this time he has institutional Senate backing from people like Blackburn, whereas in 2016 he did not win his first Senate endorsement until late February 2016 when then-Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) endorsed him after he already won the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries.
Blackburn’s depth on major issues, ranging from China to immigration to the courts to the economy and more, is sharpened by her 20 years on Capitol Hill. A regular on national television, too, Blackburn’s communication strengths and understanding of the gravity of the major issues facing conservatives–as evidenced by her long-form video special with Breitbart News in 2021–is apparent.
12.) Nikki Haley
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks during a town hall campaign event, Wednesday, May 17, 2023, in Ankeny, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is running against Trump for the nomination right now, but just like several other opponents could possibly reunite with him if and when the time came down the road. Haley served at the beginning of the Trump administration, and never really stabbed him in the back like some others did–even though they did disagree on policies sometimes–but her focus on national security matters and on diplomatic matters, as well as her powerful background story, could make her a formidable choice to be Trump’s running mate if it came to that.
Another thing going for Haley is that she is, like Scott, from South Carolina. Trump seems headed for a major win there in the South Carolina GOP primary–the first in the South primary–if current polling trends hold. Trump held a massive rally with what the local police chief reported as more than 50,000 attendees this weekend in Pickens, South Carolina, and if Trump were to possibly wrap up the nomination there that night after possible victories in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary–again if current polling holds–he could look to South Carolina for his running mate to boost the energy from there into the general election in said scenario and Haley would be a top choice for that reason. Trump made the exact same move in 2016 when he selected Pence as his running mate just a few weeks after he wrapped up the nomination in Indiana on May 3, 2016.
13.) Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC)
Republican congressional candidate Nancy Mace speaks to the crowd at an event with Sen. Lindsey Graham at the Charleston County Victory Office during Grahams campaign bus tour on October 31, 2020, in Charleston, South Carolina. (Michael Ciaglo/Getty Images)
For very similar reasons as Haley, Trump could look at Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) as a possible running mate selection if he wins the nomination — and Mace has not been shy recently when it comes to absolutely gunning for the job.
Mace, who has had an on-again-off-again-on-again relationship with Trump politically, earned his ire in 2022 after in 2021 she ripped him repeatedly. Trump backed a primary challenger to Mace, who fell short — and Mace won reelection. Since then, however, Mace has seemed to recognize political reality and continually talks about — even after the indictments of Trump — in television appearances how Trump is likely going to be the GOP nominee in 2024.
In other words, Mace could help Trump unite the party–and she could help him bring some South Carolina magic to the national stage.
14.) John Ratcliffe
Rep. John Ratcliffe, (R-TX), testifies before a Senate Intelligence Committee nomination hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, May. 5, 2020. (Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty Images)
Former Rep. John Ratcliffe (R-TX), who later was confirmed by the U.S. Senate as Trump’s Director of National Intelligence (DNI), was one of the few national security officials in the Trump administration who regularly defended the then-president and was not always out to get him. This is a bit of a dark horse possible pick, though, because Ratcliffe is not a well-known name nationally and was very much a behind-the-scenes guy (if he ever wants to, we’d love to have him on radio — but he has not taken us up on the offer yet), but sources say that he and Trump remain close in Trump’s post-presidency and are even golfing buddies. Trump traveled to Dallas, Texas, to golf with Ratcliffe and several pro golfers recently, too, and given that Trump likes the spotlight all to himself and Ratcliffe is more of a head-down grinder on serious national security policy matters, it could be a possibility.
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