With Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley officially ending her presidential campaign on Wednesday, former President Donald Trump’s veepstakes have officially begun.
While a vice presidential announcement usually doesn’t come until the summer of an election year — usually to drum up excitement ahead of a candidate’s party convention — Trump is not a traditional presidential candidate.
For starters, he’s already dumped his original veep, former Vice President Mike Pence, after the two fell out over Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
Trump has also been teasing his VP rollout for months, telling a Fox News Iowa town hall audience in January, “I know who it’s going to be,” even though comments from aides suggested that was not actually the case.
Haley would be an obvious choice for Trump’s vice president — bringing together the MAGA and the more traditional Republican sides of the party — but neither the former U.N. ambassador nor the former president have shown much interest .
With Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley (left) officially out of the race, former President Donald Trump’s veepstakes (right) have officially begun
That leaves a list of Trump’s other rivals and key allies in 2024 as contenders for the second spot on the Republican ticket.
Tim Scott: A 2024 rival who supported Trump over the woman who appointed him to the Senate before a key race
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott was on the tip of Trump supporters’ tongues as DailyMail.com surveyed voters in Super Tuesday states ahead of Tuesday’s races.
‘I like Scott, I think Scott should be his running mate’ said Michael Hedrick, 72, as he voted for Trump in North Carolina G.O.P primary election Tuesday in Nash County, a major battleground.
In conservative Orange County, California, Trump voters echoed the sentiment.
“I’d like Tim Scott. Because he’s a very honest, nice guy, and he’s a real American, I think. He really cares about America. And people,” said 80-year-old Bridget Hawley, a retiree from Huntington Beach.
Michael Mesbah, 32, who works in advertising, and Allyssa Mesbah, 29, a dancer, both support Trump and both named Scott as the best vice president.
“I really like Tim Scott,” Allyssa said.
Her husband noted that there were “a lot of interesting potential candidates that I really like.”
“I think Tim Scott is probably a viable option,” he said.
Scott abandoned his own presidential bid in mid-November and then endorsed Trump days before the New Hampshire primary, Haley’s best chance to shake up the race.
It came after Scott was first appointed to the Senate by Haley, when she was governor of South Carolina.
Scott brings racial diversity and more than 10 years of experience working on Capitol Hill.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott was on the tip of Trump supporters’ tongues as DailyMail.com surveyed voters in Super Tuesday states ahead of Tuesday’s races
Kristi Noem: ‘Knows how Trump works’ and could help him in battleground states in the Midwest
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is adding a woman to Trump’s roster — and she has experience in both the executive and legislative branches. She served in the U.S. House of Representatives before moving home to run for governor in 2018.
The governor of South Dakota may know how to deal with Trump, she suggested in her memoir, describing how she worked with Trump to bring fireworks to Mount Rushmore.
She “understood well what made him tick,” Noem wrote.
She is not widely known outside her state, but could try to sell a Trump restoration in Midwestern battlegrounds like Michigan and Wisconsin that have gone back and forth between Biden and Trump.
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem is adding a woman to the ticket – and she has experience as an executive and as a member of Congress
Vivek Ramaswamy: The ‘America First’ presidential candidate who ran against Trump while showing loyalty
If loyalty is a top criterion, and that is almost always the case in Trumpworld, then the candidate who ran against Trump without actually running against Trump has earned a place on the list.
Vivek Ramaswamy became the first rival to endorse Trump after repeatedly praising him from the debate stages that Trump skipped during the primaries.
The biotech entrepreneur was the top choice in DailyMail.com’s exclusive poll of New Hampshire Republicans.
He made soft suggestions that he could be the superior messenger for Trump policies, then fell out with the winner shortly before Iowa, where he won just 8 percent in the caucuses.
The “America First” candidate who said the movement was “bigger than one man” then immediately endorsed Trump and appeared on stage with him as he campaigned in New Hampshire.
Ramaswamy is an articulate salesman who can stick to the talking points and give some young people a Trump ticket – 38, he’s half Trump’s age.
But he is new to politics and it is doubtful he will win over many voters who are not already in favor of Trump.
America first second fiddle? Ramaswamy is an eloquent salesman who can walk the talk, and at 38 years old he is half Trump’s age
Elise Stefanik: A Trump loyalist who is a favorite on third-party betting sites after taking on the Ivy League presidents
One of the most important choices Trump faces is whether to choose a woman.
Allies have already urged him to choose a female running mate or a black man. according to reports this week.
One contender is a senior House Republican who has called Trump “a murderer.”
Stefanik rose to the top of Trump’s potential vice presidential list when she helped topple Harvard’s president during high-profile House hearings on anti-Semitism on campus.
She has shown her willingness to be completely loyal to Trump by labeling the January 6 defendants who stormed her workplace as “hostages.”
Stefanik denounced Trump after the release of the Access Hollywood tape in 2016, but has become a loyal defender.
“Of course I would be honored” to serve in any capacity in a Trump administration, she said days ago when asked if she would be his running mate.
She is a leader in third-party gambling sites and would strengthen Trump’s support in the Republican Party’s MAGA base.
But there are concerns that she will be unable to attract the independents and moderates Trump needs to win the general election.
Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) has inflamed conservatives with her attacks on college presidents over anti-Semitism
Kari Lake: A former news anchor who secured the MAGA base. But what about the rest of the GOP?
Lake has long been rumored as a potential veep.
The former TV host turned failed gubernatorial candidate is telegenic and knows how to fire up the MAGA crowd.
But on Tuesday, her run for the Arizona Senate got a boost with the announcement by incumbent Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, a Democrat-turned-independent, that she would leave the Senate at the end of the year.
That sets up a more traditional race between Lake and her likely Democratic opponent, Rep. Ruben Gallego.
Fixed: Arizona candidate for U.S. Senate Kari Lake is a potential running mate
Sarah Huckabee Sanders: his former press secretary and governor with a strong conservative record
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders represents a familiar figure for Trump, having served as White House press secretary and before that as a campaign aide.
She built working relationships with the White House press staff and then built a conservative record in a state where her father previously served as governor.
Although Arkansas sent Bill Clinton to Washington, it is a small state that will certainly be in Trump’s column.
At 41, she brings youth, government and White House experience, even if it wouldn’t carry the weight of her recent foreign policy choices.
And she’s from Hope, Arkansas – the famous birthplace of another American president.
Wildcard: The other wildcard names in the mix, including Tucker Carlson and Tulsi Gabbard
Trump has always thought about wildcards, with his son, Donald Trump Jr. and his wife Melania, proposed the idea of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
Carlson said he is not interested in the role.
Other unconventional choices include former Democratic Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.
Gabbard supported progressive Senator Bernie Sanders’ presidential bid in 2016, but has recently embraced the MAGA right.
She could bring in independents and other disaffected Democrats.
