Former President Trump is seriously considering selecting Senator Marco Rubio as his Vice Presidential pick, according to NBC News.
Here’s the report:
Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is moving up the list of former President Donald Trump’s potential vice presidential picks, according to six people familiar with the presumptive Republican nominee’s search for a 2024 running mate.
Rubio is hardly alone in the field; the cast of hopefuls for the job is large enough to fill an entire season of “The Apprentice.” Trump estimated the number at about 15 in a March 13 interview with Newsmax, and one of the sources said Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., are among those in the mix.
“The list is long, and it’s extremely early in any kind of process,” one Trump adviser said. “No one has been directly reached out to yet, and I do not expect that for some time.”
But Trump’s apparent seriousness about Rubio, a 52-year-old, third-term senator, hints at the former president’s priorities and presents an intriguing set of potential complications.
Rubio is young and telegenic, he’s spent more time in federal office than Vice President Kamala Harris, and, at a time when Trump is bullish on his chances of winning over Latino voters, he would be the first non-white person ever to make a Republican presidential ticket.
In other words, the Miami-born son of working-class Cuban immigrants looks good on paper and on television — a powerful combination for Trump.
But, as it stands now, there is a problem with selecting Rubio: Both Trump and Rubio are from the same state and the Constitution doesn’t allow that:
“It’s pretty clear from Trump’s orbit that Rubio is in play,” said a veteran Florida GOP operative. “It makes sense because he checks almost every box if they can get past both being from Florida.”
The Constitution prohibits electors from voting for a president and vice president from their own state.
“The Electors shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves,” Article II, Section I, Clause 3 reads.
But that didn’t stop Dick Cheney, a longtime Texan, from changing his residence to Wyoming in 2000 so that he could run with Texan George W. Bush.
It’s not clear whether Rubio would be interested in moving in order to be vice president, and he has raised the Constitution as a possible impediment — without fully ruling out the No. 2 slot — before.
“We’re both from the same state, so that’s probably not going to work that way,” Rubio said when he was asked about joining a Trump ticket on Fox News in January.
Rubio could just move to Washington DC where he surely has a home, and his Florida home could become his vacation home. But who knows if he’d be willing to do that just to be the VP.
Out of everyone I’ve seen on the list so far, I do like Rubio for the job. And it shouldn’t be hard to replace him in Florida with another Republican Senator.