With less than six weeks to go until the start of the Republican presidential nominating convention, former President Donald Trump’s campaign is accelerating its selection of a running mate.
The process has begun in earnest with several contenders for the 2024 Republican vice presidential nomination being asked to submit paperwork, sources confirmed to Fox News on Wednesday, adding that paperwork is being exchanged and that a new phase in the vice presidential search is underway.
Among the candidates the Trump campaign is vetting are three names that have frequently come up, according to sources: North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance.
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North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum speaks at a press conference with fellow Republican governors at an oil refinery in Chalmette, Louisiana, on June 3, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
A file photo of Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida (left) and Republican Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio (right). (Getty Images)
But campaign officials and people close to the former president say those three are not the only candidates on the list, with Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Tim Scott of South Carolina, Reps. Byron Donald of Florida and Elise Stefanik of New York and Ben Carson, a former neurosurgeon who served as secretary of Housing and Urban Development in the Trump administration, also under consideration.
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Asked whether the Trump campaign had contacted him about the vetting, Donald said in an interview with Fox News Digital on Tuesday night, “I’m not going to comment on that. I’m not going to get into that.”
The list of potential vice presidential candidates continues to be narrowed down but remains fluid, according to people familiar with the matter.
Republican presidential candidate and former president Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally, Saturday, May 11, 2024, in Wildwood, New Jersey. (AP Photo/Matt Luke)
As for when Trump will choose his running mate, sources say the former president likely won’t make an announcement until just before or during the party convention, which begins on July 15 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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This is consistent with the former president saying in several interviews that he would likely announce his running mate “probably in Milwaukee.”
Asked to comment on reports by Fox News and other media outlets about the vetting process, Brian Hughes, a senior adviser to the Trump campaign, said, “Anyone who claims to know who President Trump will choose as his running mate or when he will choose him is lying, unless that person is Donald J. Trump.”
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