Marco Rubio has emerged as a donor favorite to be Donald Trump's running mate. He is looking for candidates who can help him broaden his appeal and help fund his White House campaign and legal costs.
The Florida senator was flooded with donors at a Republican event at Mar-a-Lago last week as he tried to gauge audience reaction to President Trump's list of running mate candidates, attendees said. That's what it means.
“Marco was by far the one who got the most attention,” said a Republican strategist who attended the fundraiser. Another source said, “Rubio was bullied from beginning to end.''
Rubio ran against Trump for the Republican nomination in 2016. During the campaign, Mr. Trump called Mr. Rubio “Little Marco,” and the men exchanged barbs the size of Mr. Trump's hand. Mr. Rubio has since supported Mr. Trump in the U.S. Senate, serving as vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee.
Rubio, along with fellow U.S. senators J.D. Vance and Tim Scott, are recent high-profile Republicans who have gained support among Trump supporters, but they have not been selected as vice presidential candidates. For example, the president and the vice president must move from Florida to meet constitutional requirements, but the vice president lives in different states.
Trump's choice for vice president will give him an opportunity to define his campaign message and bring other layers of the Republican Party into the campaign ahead of the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July. In 2016, Trump's selection of Mike Pence allowed him to lock in the votes of traditional conservatives and evangelical Republicans.
A spokesperson for Rubio declined to comment when asked if he would consider running for vice president.
Jacob Helberg, a Republican donor and Palantir executive, said Trump is enjoying the fight for the role and attended an event last week at Trump's resort.
“He enjoys it,” Helberg said.
Trump values loyalty, but he also needs cash to pay mounting legal costs related to his campaign against Joe Biden in the White House and the numerous criminal and civil charges against him. It is said that Donors have paid more than $76 million in his legal costs since January 2023, about a quarter of the money raised by the former president.
Potential vice presidential candidates with deep pockets, including North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, liberal entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and investor Rick Scott, are using their own funds to buy tickets. I'll get it. Rubio and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott have strong ties to conservative big donors.
Tim Scott held an event in Washington, D.C. on June 19th, where he was joined by Citadel boss Ken Griffin, Apollo CEO Mark Rowan, Pershing Square founder Bill Ackman, and others. , big-name donors who supported challengers to Trump in this year's Republican primaries will be in attendance. Billionaire oil tycoon and Trump donor Tim Dunn and Silicon Valley investor Marc Andreessen will also be in attendance.
Politicians close to President Trump, including Mr. Vance, are promoting a so-called “MAGA” candidate as his running mate, but donors believe that Mr. Trump is seeking a candidate who can appeal to voters beyond his own base. He said he needed to find out.
Pauline N. Lee, a Nevada Republican who co-hosted a Trump fundraiser in June, said she believes either Rubio or Scott “will draw in a broader range of Republicans and independents and even some moderate Democrats. Probably.''
Art Pope, a businessman and mega-donor who supported Nikki Haley in this year's primary against President Trump, said his vice presidential nomination will determine whether he supports her. He called on Trump to choose someone “not a populist, but someone who represents the broader centre-right and traditional conservative coalition.”
Mr. Rubio, who is Cuban-American, and Mr. Scott, the only black Republican in the U.S. Senate, could help draw Hispanic and African-American voters away from Biden's base.
“He's raising a lot of money,” Helberg said of Rubio. “He's obviously spent years building relationships with America's Latino community, which is very important in politics.”
Mr. Vance, who is close to Mr. Trump's son Donald Jr., has been on the list for years and remains a major donor, despite criticizing Mr. Trump's “America First” policy views in 2016. He is a popular person.
“I think there's a desire for diversity, but at the end of the day, I think J.D. Vance is the best person to hire because he's a trustworthy, intelligent, capable person who is at the core of President Trump. “They have strong ties to working-class people,” said Trevor Traina, a donor who served as President Trump's ambassador to Austria.
Among the women floated by donors as possible running mates include U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the governor of Arkansas who served as President Trump's White House press secretary.
South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem bragged in her memoir about killing her dog, and that appears to be no longer the case.
“I think Kristi Noem shot herself in the foot,” John Catsimatidis, a New York billionaire who co-chaired a major fundraiser for President Trump, told the Financial Times.
The list of candidates also includes President Trump's former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Mr. Trump will seek more loyalty from his running mate than Mr. Pence, who as vice president rejected Mr. Trump's request to help overturn the 2020 election results.