Former President Donald Trump has inserted a variety of names into the media ecosystem for his open vice president position.
The list of names is long and has appeared to flourish rather than be pruned as the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee inches closer. But despite Trump dropping hints about who the front-runners might be, there’s a chance the former president will surprise everyone with a dark horse selection.
“Historically, the more he says a name, the less likely it is to be that person,” one adviser, who admitted they were speculating, told CNN.
Trump has touted numerous vice presidential candidates — Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL), to name a few — but hasn’t made his choice known yet.
The theoretical doctrine that Trump’s vice presidential choice is someone who hasn’t been widely speculated on contributes to the inclusion of another choice in the conversation: Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar (R-FL).
Sources told CNN that Salazar’s name has “circulated” through Trump’s vice presidential search and that she would fit the Hispanic mold those around him have encouraged him to look at.
Salazar would be different from many of the other candidates. She has only spent four years as a politician and has voted with President Joe Biden nearly 40% of the time on congressional matters. Stefanik only voted with Biden 19% of the time.
That would make Salazar one of the most liberal Republicans in the House, but her voting record aligns with her relatively Democratic Miami constituency.
Like other vice presidential candidates, Salazar appeared near Trump’s Manhattan hush money trial to offer her support and denied she was “on the list of favorites” or “looking for a job.”
“I am here of my own volition. I am not on the list of the favorites. I am not looking for a job, and I paid for my own way,” Salazar said. “Thousands of my constituents back in Miami are terrified when the courts in this country are used as weapons to crush our political enemies.”
However, if Trump wants to pick Salazar as his running mate, he will run into the same problem that is boxing him out of selecting Rubio. Salazar, like Rubio, is from Florida. And while the 12th Amendment doesn’t preclude the president and vice president from being from the same state, it does mean the state’s electors could not cast their votes for a Trump-Rubio/Salazar ticket.
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That would lose Trump Florida, a critical 30 electoral votes. Salazar is a resident of Florida and would likely have to move her residency to a different state if chosen, given Trump has already said he wouldn’t move.
Either way, recent speculation has thrown Salazar into a long list of Trump’s vice presidential candidates. But her under-the-radar inclusion could make her the most likely yet.