If Trump wins the GOP nomination, who would he pick as his running mate?

Former President Donald Trump speaks at the Turning Point Action conference on Saturday, July 15, 2023, in West Palm Beach, Fla. Who would Trump choose as a running mate this time around?
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If former President Donald Trump wins the nomination again, he said he’d entertain picking one of his Republican primary rivals as his running mate, while his supporters have a few other suggestions.

When asked if he’d pick a fellow candidate as his running mate in an interview with Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Trump said he’s been impressed with some of them.

“I think you have some good people on the stage actually,” he said. “I think you have some very talented people. I’ve been impressed by some of them, some of them I’m very friendly with actually.”

Trump claimed some candidates called him personally to offer to run with him, but he declined to name names, saying he didn’t want to “embarrass them.” He had nice things to say about entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., during the interview, but didn’t name either specifically as potential running mates.

Over the weekend, Trump won a Turning Points USA straw poll at the conservative group’s conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, and more straw poll respondents said they wanted former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake as his running mate than any other person.

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Former Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake sign autographs on copies of her book “Unafraid” during the Faith and Freedom Coalition Policy Conference in Washington, Saturday, June 24, 2023. | Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press
Former Republican Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake sign autographs on copies of her book “Unafraid” during the Faith and Freedom Coalition Policy Conference in Washington, Saturday, June 24, 2023. | Jose Luis Magana, Associated Press

There’s been speculation about Lake being Trump’s running mate since before she lost her race for governor to Arizona’s Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs last year. A vocal proponent of disproven claims that Trump lost the election due to fraud, she’s similarly refused to concede her 2022 loss and she’s being sued by an Arizona election official who’s accused her of defaming him.

Lake is one of four women who sources close to Trump believe he could pick, according to Axios, along with Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.

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Lake won a previous straw poll for the vice presidency in March at the Conservative Political Action Conference, coming in ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Haley.

The Turning Points USA straw poll found Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., to be the second most popular running mate for Trump among respondents, followed by Ramaswamy. Donalds, a pro-Trump member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, was among the opposition candidates put forward for House speaker earlier this year before Speaker Kevin McCarthy won in the 15th round of voting.

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Picking a candidate like Lake or Donalds would be a departure from 2016, when Trump balanced out his ticket by announcing Mike Pence as his running mate. For Trump, a former TV show host and businessman with no prior experience in government, Pence provided Christian conservative credentials and a resume that included time as Indiana governor and more than a decade in the U.S. House.

An October 2016 Morning Consult poll found 32% of Trump supporters said they’d rather vote for Pence for president than Trump, compared with just 9% of Hillary Clinton supporters who said the same thing of her running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speaks during the Family Leadership Summit, Friday, July 14, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa. | Charlie Neibergall, Associated Press
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., speaks during the Family Leadership Summit, Friday, July 14, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa. | Charlie Neibergall, Associated Press