Why not them? Key Republicans didn’t make Trump’s veep list

Former President Donald Trump has started vetting eight Republicans as potential vice presidential candidates — but that hasn’t stopped a number of other potential picks from trying to stay on his radar.

Their supporters are publicly lobbying for them. Some are going on television to directly appeal to Trump. One continues to be a MAGA faithful favorite. In another instance, donors are pushing Trump to pick their favored Republican.

Trump isn’t expected to announce his pick until the Republican National Convention in mid-July, and his campaign has emphasized that Trump himself will be the only one to make the announcement, and that anyone who claims to know who he’ll pick is lying.

“As President Trump has said himself, the top criteria in selecting a vice president is a strong leader who will make a great president for eight years after President Trump’s four-year term,” said Brian Hughes, senior adviser to the Trump campaign.

With the stakes so high, many are trying to keep any avenues open. Here’s a list of candidates not on the publicly known list, who could be seen as wild cards if they were somehow to get another look:

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley

Haley, who dropped out of the 2024 presidential race in March, remains a favorite among some high-dollar donors and could help bridge the fundraising divide between Trump and President Joe Biden.

Hours after a New York jury convicted Trump on May 30, the former president attended a fundraiser in Manhattan and asked some of his wealthiest donors who they thought he should pick as his running mate, POLITICO reported. According to grocery store magnate John Catsimatidis, a GOP donor who was at the event, attendees mentioned Haley as someone who “might make the difference.”

Haley’s appeal is especially strong among voters with a college degree and with suburban women — demographics Trump is struggling to win over. She came to represent the Trump resistance wing of the GOP, so marrying her with the MAGA movement could help put the former president back in the White House. And she continued to draw voters in GOP primaries even after dropping out of the race, especially among suburban voters.

But Trump already said on social media that Haley was “not under consideration.” The two have still not spoken, though Haley said she planned to vote for Trump in November.

“She would be a wonderful choice as insurance for the world and the country and the Republican Party to the extent, if any, it still exists and hasn't been totally co-opted by MAGA world,” said former Trump White House lawyer Ty Cobb, a friend and donor to Haley. “But I don't think there is a chance in hell he picks her. I think she might take it if seriously pressed just because of her sense of duty, but she can't really be authentic as Trump's No. 2.”

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis

DeSantis is still widely viewed as one of the most natural heirs to the MAGA movement. He used to boast on the presidential campaign trail that he’d been more successful at delivering the “America First” agenda than Trump was. And months after he dropped out of the presidential race, people who attend Trump’s rallies often praise him and say they wish DeSantis could be Trump’s No. 2. A recent Harvard-Harris poll also found that DeSantis is the favorite Republican to be Trump’s vice president.

But DeSantis has made it clear he has no intention of trying to get on Trump’s ticket, or anyone’s for that matter. Though DeSantis and Trump reached a public peace treaty after a bitter primary — and DeSantis is now fundraising for Trump — the former president has shown he’s eager to shape Florida’s future after DeSantis is term-limited out in 2026. And DeSantis himself has openly acknowledged that he hasn’t ruled out trying to run for president in 2028.

“They have repaired the relationship,” said a person close to the Trump campaign who was granted anonymity to discuss the campaign. “It's not what it was, but it's way better than where it was six months ago. And it's getting better every day.”

Some of the governor’s supporters still hope DeSantis might have a shot at being in the White House, even if it isn’t as president.

“I’d love for president Trump to give him another look,” said Roy Bailey, who was one of three finance chairs for the DeSantis presidential campaign. “DeSantis surely isn’t doing anything to try to make that happen. This is something that has to come organically, naturally and for all the right reasons.”

Bailey said he knew DeSantis was focused on his work in Florida but also saw how GOP voters would be able to envision a 12-year set of conservative victories given that the two men have similar policies.

“If President Trump wants his policies to keep moving forward, as it secures his legacy, then perhaps it would make sense for him to choose a great leader like DeSantis, whose policies are so closely aligned with this,” Bailey said.

DeSantis donor Robert Salvador agreed that DeSantis and Trump would be a great pair but doubted that the two would ever share a ticket — though he could see them working together closely.

“DeSantis and Trump have been aligned much more of the time than they weren't aligned,” Salvador said. “The only time they really weren't aligned was in the primary and leading up to it. Other than that, policywise, they're very similar.”

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem

Noem’s book tour across America looks a lot like an audition for vice president. But the South Dakota governor’s ambitions likely died after she wrote in her book that she intentionally shot and killed her dog — a revelation that led to days of negative coverage for Noem.

Yet she seems to still be trying out for the veep job. In media interviews, she often says she’s been loyal to the former president — a quality he’s known to value. She pointed out at a Palm Beach stop in May that she was one of the people closest to Trump who refused to enter a race against him, a tacit swipe at others whose names have been floated for the VP slot.

Noem’s prospects were dim even before the dog-killing incident became public, POLITICO previously reported. Allegations surfaced in conservative media that she was having an extramarital affair with former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. Noem denied the allegations and called them a “disgusting lie.”

“The Corey Lewandowski stuff was a problem,” said the person close to the Trump campaign. “She's kind of small time. The book just kind of finished her off.”

But as recently as last Sunday, Noem was on CNN urging Trump to pick a female running mate.

“I’ve told President Trump over and over again, he needs to pick whoever helps him win. I have been loyal to him since the very beginning when he first started to run in 2016. He’s told me his priority is picking a running mate that can govern on day one,” Noem told CNN.

She added: “According to the polling that I’ve seen for him, in a lot of swing states, is that having a woman that is helping him campaign makes a difference.”

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

As the first woman to serve as Arkansas governor, many see Sarah Huckabee Sanders as the perfect compliment to Trump, helping him appeal to suburban women, a voting bloc that Trump has had trouble winning over.

She’s played it coy, saying in an interview she “absolutely” loves her current job, but that’s done little to tamp down speculation that she is itching for a return to perch with a national profile.

“She's a badass woman,” said Sarah Chamberlain, President and CEO of Republican Main Street Partnership, a group that works to elect moderate conservatives. “She's conservative, but she's not off the deep-end conservative. And I think women will be like ‘oh she’s a great choice.’”

Huckabee Sanders is also someone who knows Trump well after serving as a trusted confidant and arguably his most effective communicator during her years as his White House press secretary. She’s also popular with the base.

“There’s no learning curve, she knows [Trump] well and knows how to help him ... or when to be the face” of a particular policy issue,” said Alex Stroman, a former South Carolina Republican Party chair.

The governor also received high marks in 2023 after delivering the Republican rebuttal to the president’s State of the Union Address, where she castigated Joe Biden as being beholden to “woke fantasies.”

Others add she among the best choices the party can depend on to go head-to-head with Vice President Kamala Harris during a potential VP debate and instantly negate any perceptions of a gender advantage Democrats may have.

Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin

Trump and the Virginia governor met last week amid speculation that the former president is looking to expand the electoral map, with the campaign attempting to put Virginia into play this cycle.

A person close to Youngkin, granted anonymity to discuss the meeting, said the governor and Trump did not talk discuss the vice presidential slot. But Trump last week told Fox News that Youngkin is “great” and will consider him as a potential vice presidential pick.

“I haven’t been asked that question, but he would be on that list,” Trump said of Youngkin.

Youngkin’s appeal could expand beyond the MAGA base.

“I think he's a strong enough communicator, and he's proven an ability to win in a tough state,” said Lanhee Chen, a policy adviser to Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) during his two presidential campaigns. “So I think for all those reasons you have to look seriously at him as an option.”