According to the majority of polls, former President Donald Trump is the clear frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination, which has fueled speculation regarding his running mate.
The three leading candidates for Trump’s vice president, according to a 1945 article, are all women: Kari Lake, Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (MTG), and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
🚨Report: President Trump is considering picking three possible names to become as his VP pick in 2024.
Kari Lake @KariLake
Marjorie Taylor Green @RepMTG @mtgreenee
Governor Kristi Noem @KristiNoem
Tell me what you think in the comments.— The Calvin Coolidge Project (@TheCalvinCooli1) May 11, 2023
Lake is a former news anchor in Arizona who narrowly lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs in the Arizona gubernatorial election in 2022. As the 1945 article stated, “Lake is a unique creature, spewing the hard right rhetoric that MAGA Nation finds so endearing, while doing so with the glitz and polish of a seasoned TV reporter.”
Greene, formerly regarded as a far-right Republican, has recently begun to acquire mainstream acceptance within his party. 1945 describes Greene thusly: “The version of MTG that can appeal to both MAGA and the mainstream is a concerning premise, and Trump has his eye on Greene as a potential running mate with appeal in the newly-in-play Georgia.”
Noem responded on CNN’s “State of the Union” when asked if she would be Trump’s running mate, “I would be shocked if he asked.” However, Noem has remained loyal to Trump and continues to support his current presidential campaign while maintaining her conservative popularity.
The Associated Press stated in March, “Trump campaign officials insist that the vice presidential search is not something they have been actively discussing,” and with the timing of the election, a vice president choice will probably not be made until the primaries are over.
Nonetheless, this choice has been the subject of speculation for months, beginning shortly after Trump formally announced his candidacy.
Donald Trump announces he's running for president in 2024 https://t.co/moYn0JyG8E
— Bloomberg (@business) November 16, 2022
Trump, for his part, has both minimized the significance of the vice presidential nominee in elections and emphasized the importance of the position once elected.
“I’ve watched this for a long time,” Trump told NewsMax. “There’s never been a vice president that’s done anything for the election. In other words, they vote for the one person.”
Trump went on to acknowledge that Mike Pence was a “very good vice president” stating, “He did a good job until the end. I disagreed with him very strongly — I still do. But I don’t think vice presidents have any impact at all on the vote.”
During the 2016 presidential election, Pence was regarded as an ideal running companion.
“Pence, a devout Christian, was credible amongst evangelicals who had serious character questions about Trump, the hard-talking New Yorker who boasted of grabbing women however he pleased,” the 1945 article stated.
The Associated Press reported that Trump’s primary requirement for a vice president is loyalty, given that he has obviously experienced disloyalty from both Pence in 2020 and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis right now.
“I am very disappointed in him because I’m a loyal person, maybe to a fault. I’m a loyal person, and somebody gets you into office and then you’re telling people, ‘Well, I don’t know if I’ll run against the president,’” Trump said of DeSantis according to the Washington Examiner. “A lot of people said loyalty doesn’t mean anything. Well, to me, loyalty means a lot.”
While Biden will retain Kamala Harris as his running mate, it seems probable that Trump’s ticket will also include a woman, most likely one of the three candidates enumerated above.