President Trump said he likes the concept of a woman vice president but said he’ll use a range of criteria alongside a person’s sex to decide his running mate.
Former President Donald Trump said he likes the idea of a woman serving as his vice president if elected to the Oval Office in 2024, but he was quick to add that there are more important factors than male or female to consider when picking his running mate.
“Are you leaning toward a woman?” NBC “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker asked President Trump in an interview Thursday.
“I like the concept, but we’re going to pick the best person,” President Trump replied. “But I do like the concept, yes.”
The former president then said that it’s relatively early going in the presidential campaign and he hasn’t given much thought to his pick for a running mate.
“You always do a little bit, but I really don’t think it’s time. I want to win,” he said.
Rumors have long swirled that President Trump was considering a woman as his running mate in order to court the female suburban vote that some strategists believe would be key to beating President Joe Biden.
Media speculation has pointed to former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Trump White House press secretary and current Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem.
In the interview on “Meet the Press,” President Trump was asked about Ms. Noem as a possible pick, with the former president saying she’d be “fantastic” and saying he’d consider her for VP.
“She’s been a great governor,” President Trump said, adding that Ms. Noem gave him a “beautiful endorsement” during a recent rally in her state.
“Certainly she’d be one of the people I’d consider, or for something else maybe. But we have a lot of people. We have a lot of great people in the Republican Party,” President Trump said.
By Tom Ozimek
