After dominating the GOP presidential primary and clinching presumptive nominee status, former President Donald Trump‘s vice presidential pick is the next step on his path to the general election in November.
An announcement of Trump’s running mate will likely come in late spring or early summer before the Republican National Convention in mid-July.
Trump’s first running mate, former Vice President Mike Pence, won’t be on the ticket this time around after challenging Trump during the 2024 cycle. Another 2024 Trump challenger, Vivek Ramaswamy, is reportedly no longer in contention for the vice presidential slot but could be a Cabinet member if Trump is reelected.
But Trump is not without a long list of Republicans vying for the second slot.
Here are the pros and cons of Trump’s possible running mates.
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), another one-time rival of Trump in 2016, has emerged as a top contender to join the Trump campaign. At 52, Rubio is 25 years younger than the 77-year-old Trump. He would make history as the first person of color to join a Republican presidential ticket and would appeal to Latino voters as the son of Cuban immigrants.
But federal law prohibits electors from voting for a presidential and vice presidential candidate from the state. Trump and Rubio both reside in Florida, and one of the pair would need to change their state residency if they became running mates.
The former president was a lifelong New Yorker before changing his residency to the Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, which he could once again claim.
Rubio claimed he has not had any conversations with Trump about joining the ticket but will still support the campaign irrespective of who Trump chooses.
“Anybody who gets a chance to serve as vice president of the United States should consider that an honor,” Rubio told Glenn Beck. “I have never spoken either to President Trump or anybody on his campaign about this or anybody else that they’re considering for vice president.”
“What I do know is that, unlike the Democrats, President Trump will have a lot of good options available to him,” he continued. “And I’m confident he’s going to make the perfect and right choice.”
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) emerged relatively unscathed after running unsuccessfully against Trump during the 2024 GOP primary.
The South Carolinian politician has campaigned for Trump as a surrogate, appeared onstage with the former president at rallies, and participated in joint interviews with Trump.
Trump has singled out Scott when asked about running mates in several interviews. The senator has tried to brush off the speculation. “Well, one day at a time,” Scott told supporters in his home state last month when questioned about joining Trump’s ticket.
A Scott selection would make him the first black politician on a Republican presidential ticket after making history as the first black Republican senator from his state.
Scott remains well liked among his Senate colleagues, but it is not clear how many black voters, who overwhelmingly support the Democratic Party, he could persuade to vote for the Trump ticket.
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL) has long been a vocal supporter of Trump, willing to go on the airwaves to attack the former president’s detractors. Like Rubio, Donalds is young (45 years old), a person of color, and a Floridian. Either he or Trump would need to change residencies to remain on the presidential ticket.
Similarly to Scott, Donalds has appeared at campaign rallies for Trump and championed black voters abandoning the Democratic Party to vote for Trump. But as a Tea Party conservative, his appeal to black Democratic voters is not guaranteed to succeed nor could he appeal to moderate voters.
“President Trump’s going to make a decision,” Donalds told the Washington Examiner when he appeared at a Black Conservative Federation honors gala in South Carolina last month. “Whatever decision he chooses to make, I’m a support. I just want to win, and so, you know, if it’s me or anybody else, the only thing that matters is victory and getting the job done.”
Gov. Kristi Noem (R-SD) remains a top supporter of Trump, not just stumping for the president but for the candidates he has endorsed this election cycle.
At 52, Noem is primed for a long career in the GOP and would be an asset for Trump as a fierce conservative woman. Trump has lost a sizable share of suburban women while in office, which Noem could help him potentially bring back into the GOP fold.
When the Washington Examiner asked if she could help Trump defeat Biden in November as part of the ticket, Noem said: “Oh, I know I could.”
But Noem has faced significant pushback recently over peddling business products on social media. The South Dakota governor was sued after she posted an unusual infomercial-style video on X last week. Her office has not disclosed whether she received financial compensation for the posting.
Days later, the governor promoted Fit My Feet, which has several locations in the Mount Rushmore State, for building Noem insoles for her running shoes and cowboy shoes.
The scrutiny may prove off-putting for Trump’s campaign.
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) is one of the most-rumored of Trump’s vice presidential possibilities. She appeared onstage and at campaign rallies for Trump in New Hampshire as he was on track to locking up the nomination.
At one New Hampshire rally in February where Trump made it blatantly clear he would not select former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley as his running mate, Stefanik said she would be “honored” to be Trump’s running mate. (Haley has repeatedly said she wasn’t running to become Trump’s running mate.)
“President Trump is a friend. I’ve been proud to be the strongest supporter and the first member of Congress to endorse him,” Stefanik said during a press gaggle back then. “I’d be honored to serve within the future Trump administration.”
Trump was reportedly impressed with the New York congresswoman’s grilling of three university presidents for campus antisemitism, with two of the leaders later resigning.
Stefanik’s top weakness may be criticisms that she is not experienced enough to become Trump’s running mate at 39 years old.
Once considered the top candidate to defeat Trump, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) exited the race after losing the Iowa caucuses.
Although he has endorsed Trump for president, DeSantis has not appeared onstage with the former president, a sign that lingering tensions may remain between the two foes.
DeSantis remains a principled conservative who ran on enacting top priorities for evangelicals, including signing a six-week abortion ban and opposing race, gender, and sexuality teachings in public schools.
But it’s unclear whether DeSantis would join the ticket after repeatedly stating he would reject a vice presidential offer while he was running for president.
“I can tell you under any circumstance I will not accept that because that’s not why I’m running,” DeSantis said during a campaign stop in New Hampshire. “I’m running for the nomination and to be president. … I’d rather be governor than vice president, no question.”
Former Hawaii Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard isn’t an actual Republican. She served as a vice chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee from 2013 to 2016 and ran for president as a Democrat in 2020.
But she has made overtures to appeal to Republicans after leaving Congress and renouncing her status as a Democrat. She spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February, has appeared on Fox News, and has increasingly attacked the Democratic Party.
Her anti-establishment credentials could help Trump, but her history as a former Democrat is likely to turn away Republicans who may not trust her credibility.
Arizona Republican Kari Lake is running for the Senate seat vacated by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), but that doesn’t mean she wouldn’t take up a vice presidential offer.
Lake is an outspoken supporter of Trump who frequently urged his primary rivals to drop out of the race. Trump endorsed Lake during her unsuccessful gubernatorial race in 2022, which she has not conceded she lost.
Her bombastic attitude and refusal to accept President Joe Biden won the 2020 election may endear her to Trump, but it’s unlikely to play well with moderates and independents who will decide the race.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has made a name for herself in Congress for her news-grabbing spats with Democratic members. But as a pugnacious congresswoman from the critical battleground state of Georgia, she could prove useful to the Trump campaign.
Trump lost the Peach State to Biden in 2020 and then helped cost Republicans two Senate seats in 2020. A native such as Greene could help him solidify Georgia in November.
In August, Greene made waves by suggesting she could either run for a Senate seat in Georgia or accept a vice presidential offer.
“I haven’t made up my mind whether I will do that or not. I have a lot of things to think about,” she told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Am I going to be a part of President Trump’s Cabinet if he wins? Is it possible that I’ll be VP?”
Greene’s antics in Congress may please her constituents in Georgia’s 14th Congressional District, but it could backfire with centrists and suburban women voters who are voting more Democratic in recent elections.
Ben Carson served as Trump’s housing and urban development secretary during the 2016 administration. Now, he’s the only one of Trump’s former Cabinet members who could become his running mate.
Carson endorsed Trump’s 2024 bid, unlike Pence or Haley. At this year’s CPAC, he told the Washington Examiner that Trump is “being politically persecuted” due to his 91 criminal indictments across four cases.
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Carson also said he hadn’t put much thought into joining Trump’s ticket again, but he said he’d “consider what we can do to save our country.”
The retired neurosurgeon is a low-key politician who may not appeal to GOP voters who want a pit bull fighter to defend Trump against Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.