As he races towards a probable victory in Tuesday’s New Hampshire major, Donald Trump is popping the Granite State contest right into a vice presidential sweepstakes.
Over the weekend, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, and New York Consultant Elise Stefanik stumped for Trump at occasions in New Hampshire forward of the first. All three have been floated as potential Trump operating mates.
Scott, who ended his temporary and lackluster presidential bid in November, took the chance Friday to offer his full-throated endorsement of the previous president, snubbing Nikki Haley, who additionally hails from the Palmetto State and appointed Scott to his Senate seat in 2012.
“We’d like a president who will shut our southern border at present. We’d like Donald Trump,” Scott mentioned at a rally in Harmony, New Hampshire, the place chants of “VP” rang out by the group. “We’d like a president who will unite our nation. We’d like Donald Trump. We’d like a president who will shield your Social Safety and my momma’s Social Safety.”
In a Sunday look on CNN, Scott was asked about “VP” chants and whether or not he was angling for the vice presidency. “The one factor I would like is 4 extra years of Donald Trump and a Republican majority within the Senate, majority within the Home and the White Home,” Scott responded. After CNN host Dana Bash pressed him on whether or not he was maintaining the door “large open” for a spot on a Trump ticket, Scott replied, “You’ll be able to take it any approach you need.”
If Scott is getting into a de facto Veep sweepstakes, he’s becoming a member of a considerably crowded area. Vance, who campaigned arduous for Trump’s endorsement in 2022 and has been floated as a possible VP decide, informed a crowd in Kingston Saturday that “if you happen to’re undecided, throw up your hand. I need to attempt to persuade you.” Requested about his curiosity within the vice presidency, Vance prompt that he’d be a simpler asset for Trump within the Senate, however promised to “assist him nonetheless I can.”
The Republican who has campaigned maybe most vociferously on Trump’s behalf in New Hampshire has been Stefanik. (Like Vance, Stefanik is a former Trump critic turned MAGA celebrity.) Stumping for Trump in Manchester, the New York Congresswoman parroted Trumpian traces on the border wall, the “faux” information media, and the authorized circumstances unfolding towards the previous president, which she dubbed a “witch hunt.”
At a rally yesterday, Trump cooed over Stefanik’s starring position within the December Home listening to on antisemitism in increased training. “Elise turned very well-known,” Trump mentioned. “Wasn’t it lovely?”
“I’d be honored to serve within the Trump administration in any capability,” Stefanik told The Washington Put up on Saturday, including that she’s “targeted on being a surrogate.” Stefanik additionally mentioned she’s mates together with her fellow GOP legislators who’re thought of potential Trump operating mates. “We’re displaying a full-court press,” she mentioned.
Forward of the primary Republican nominating contest in Iowa, which he finally received handily, Trump equally enlisted a bunch of potential veep picks as marketing campaign surrogates, together with Georgie Consultant Marjorie Taylor Greene, former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, and North Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, The New York Occasions reported.
Trump famously hemmed and hawed over his vice presidential decide in 2016, solely settling on Mike Pence in July of that marketing campaign season, simply days earlier than the Republican Nationwide Conference. However in an look on Fox Information earlier in January, Trump teased that he already knew who he deliberate to choose. Requested who it could be, Trump replied, “I can’t let you know that actually.”
