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Donald J. Trump has never shown much interest in grooming a successor.
When Pence retired as host of “The Apprentice,” he mocked his successor’s ratings. Trump’s former White House staffers do not have the alumni network that his two predecessors had. Former staffers testified before Congress that Pence expressed support when his supporters chanted “hang Mike Pence” during the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
But a funny thing has happened in the process of nominating a running mate: Through an increasingly dramatic selection process that has focused on a broad range of candidates, like a reality TV show, former presidents have cultivated a new crop of rising stars within their party.
The group under consideration already constitutes some of the most coveted pro-Trump Republicans for cable news interviews, and their newly burnished pro-Trump credibility gives them wider access to some of the party’s major donors. Whoever is not selected as the GOP’s vice presidential nominee will undoubtedly be among the first names discussed as a top contender for the 2028 presidential election.
Rep. Byron Donald of Florida, 45, Rep. Elise Stefanik of New York, 40, and Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio, 39, are widely seen as the party’s most promising young stars. Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida was seen as a front-runner by Trump, which burnished his conservative credentials. North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum was a political unknown who became one of the former president’s fiercest defenders on television.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott has attracted more attention as a possible vice presidential candidate than he did when he was running for president this year, while Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswami may have faded from public view after dropping his own presidential bid, but he continues to appear at campaign and fundraising events at Mr. Trump’s urging.
“Trump has been very helpful to these people,” said Newt Gingrich, the former House speaker whom Trump considered as a running mate in 2016. “All of them would be much more famous without Donald Trump.”
Trump has helped raise their profile by repeatedly praising them at rallies and mentioning them as potential vice presidential candidates. His campaign has also organized itself for that purpose, with an internal booking team explicitly tasked with making sure candidates get booked for cable news interviews and quoted in conservative media. The campaign team has also helped candidates organize pro-Trump fundraisers and provided them with lists of specific donors to solicit contributions to the Trump campaign, which could come in handy in the future.
But the candidates also benefit Trump.
In recent years, some of the party’s most visible Trump allies have been some of its most controversial public figures, such as Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who supported Democrats’ death penalty campaigns in 2021 and was stripped of her committee assignments for spreading dangerous and bigoted misinformation, and far-right conservatives like MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell, a major donor to Trump’s election denial campaign.
Republicans like Vance, Rubio and Burgum, all of whom have a history of being Trump’s fiercest critics, are now among his most ardent defenders. By setting aside their misgivings about Trump and joining the vice presidential selection process, they have made him more appealing to more traditional Republican voters and donors while also demonstrating his complete control of the party.
They also became a trusted corps of Trump supporters, primarily as establishment mouthpieces in TV interviews and fundraisers, and even after Trump picks his nominee, the remnants of this group will likely remain as veteran surrogates for the campaign as the election approaches.
Mark McKinnon, a longtime adviser to Republican presidential candidates, said Trump was wise not to focus on notable figures from the “Make America Great Again” movement, which he said would have excited his supporters but wouldn’t have attracted new voters.
“What’s interesting about Trump’s list of candidates is that there are no “No Barking Dogs” – no MAGA celebrities,” McKinnon said, adding that “this is a short-term electoral advantage for Trump, but it’s also good for the party as it broadens its support.”
Trump has long maintained that whoever he chooses should be ready to succeed him in the Oval Office if necessary.
“We’re looking at a lot of good people,” Trump said in a June interview on Newsmax when asked about a running mate, “but most importantly, and I’ve said this many times and I think a lot of people will say this, we need somebody who, if something bad were to happen, would be able to step up and do a great job as president.”
The former president also seems interested in floating as many names as possible to spark speculation, but also to raise the profile of Republicans.
In one example, during an interview with Fox News in February, Trump was asked about six politicians — Donald, Ramaswami, Scott, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem — whether they were all on his “short list” for possible vice presidential candidates.
The six names were not on the running mate list but Mr. Trump acknowledged they were all contenders, according to a person familiar with the vice presidential search, a moment that signaled to aides that Mr. Trump was interested in making his field appear broader than it actually was and boosting the profile of his Republican allies.
Trump was indebted to his fellow Republicans in many ways, and his surprise 2016 presidential run has often been described as a hostile takeover of the GOP, but little consideration has been given to the impact of one key element of his campaign: the effective weakening of a conservative base that was widely seen as promising.
Bobby Jindal and Scott Walker, two young Republican governors who were once seen as the GOP’s future leaders, dropped out of presidential races before the first 2016 primary as Trump captured the attention of the press and Republican base, and have been relegated to the sidelines ever since.
Before announcing their 2016 presidential bids, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) was hailed as “the next great hope of conservatives” by National Review and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was called “the most interesting person in politics” on the cover of Time magazine. Both eventually returned to the Senate, where they are known more as key Trump allies than as Republican wunderkinds.
After Trump soundly defeated Jeb Bush’s campaign, ending the Bush family’s decades-long dominance of Republican politics, many observers wondered where the Republican Party would go next.
“The Republican Party has depth and talent, as demonstrated by the strength and diversity of leaders supporting President Donald J. Trump,” said Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley.
