Trump ponders VP contenders
His pick could come down to fundraising ability
WASHINGTON — As former President Donald Trump sifts through potential running mates, he has peppered some advisers and associates with a direct question: Which Republican could best help him raise money for the rest of the presidential campaign?
That inquiry reflects the evolving calculations of Mr. Trump’s vice-presidential search — and how his scramble to keep up with President Joe Biden’s colossal fundraising totals may be weighing on his mind as he considers his options.
Mr. Trump’s selection process, which is still in its early stages, has largely revolved around conventional questions like who could step in as president if needed, political calculations including contenders’ position on abortion rights and more Trumpian curiosities like whether a politician physically resembles his idea of a vice president.
But Mr. Trump has asked several people about the fundraising prowess of possible running mates, according to three people with direct knowledge of the conversations, signaling a fresh angle in his search for a running mate.
The initial feedback has pointed him toward a handful of members of Congress with strong donor connections and at least one deeppocketed governor. One long-shot possibility with a proven record of raising piles of cash — former Gov. Nikki Haley of South Carolina — was only recently a bitter presidential rival, and her name can spark outrage from Mr. Trump.
“Trump is going to want a team player, and this is going to be about adding value to the ticket,” said former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who remains close with Mr. Trump and set records for Republican fundraising. “It’s also going to be about someone who understands the job — who
understands the Senate and the House — because he’s not going to want to waste one minute in office.”
In some cases, Mr. Trump is still getting to know potential contenders.
After a recent meeting at Mar- a- Lago with former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, a Democrat-turnedindependent who has become popular among conservatives, he made clear to advisers that she should be on his list of options.
In other cases, Mr. Trump has fixated on the whimsical over the practical. He has asked several people about running with Robert F. Kennedy Jr., saying he is intrigued by the branding potential of a “Trump-Kennedy” ticket despite his recent attacks on Mr. Kennedy and the unlikelihood of such a scenario. Mr. Trump’s campaign team remains adamantly opposed to the idea, and Mr. Kennedy, who is running for president as an independent, has said he would not consider such an offer.
It is also unclear among Mr. Trump’s advisers whether he ultimately intends to give considerable weight to a contender’s fundraising ability or whether his recent focus is a consequence of his overall concerns about cash. That fixation has permeated both his presidential bid and his
costly legal defense in his four criminal cases — and further blurred the line between the two.
The former president relied on one of his political fundraising vehicles, the Save America PAC, to pay for roughly $50 million in legal expenses last year. He has started replenishing that fund with help from the Republican National Committee, where recently installed Mr. Trump loyalists now control the purse strings.
Mr. Trump’s campaign team, meanwhile, has acknowledged that it expects to be outspent by Biden and the Democratic Party. Mr. Trump has responded with a furious pace of fundraising, despite his typical prickliness at the idea of having to ask wealthy donors for cash.
“There is no shortage of immensely qualified people President Trump can choose from,” said Steven Cheung, a Trump campaign spokesperson. “He’ll make his decision when he is ready and at the appropriate time.”
If fundraising concerns further influence his vicepresidential search, that path could lead toward a pair of former Republican presidential primary opponents, Gov. Doug Burgum of North Dakota and Ms. Haley; and a coterie of members of Congress, including Rep. Elise Stefanik of New
York and Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, Tim Scott of South Carolina and J.D. Vance of Ohio.
Mr. Trump has signaled interest in all of them as potential running mates, except for Ms. Haley. To some people, he is said to have shown indifference when asked about Ms. Haley joining his ticket. To others, he has savaged her with brutal and personal criticisms.
Mr. Burgum, for his part, did not raise much for his presidential campaign, but he is worth hundreds of millions of dollars due largely to the sale of his computer program business to Microsoft in 2001.
Mr. Trump also has a history of populating his inner circle with wealthy businesspeople. Mr. Burgum attended a fundraiser at Mara-Lago this month and, at Mr. Trump’s request, addressed the crowd of about 100 donors, as did Mr. Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy, a businessperson who ran for president this year, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Mr. Rubio built a formidable fundraising operation for his own presidential bid in 2016. And while many of those donors, such as Isaac Perlmutter, the former chair of Marvel Entertainment, are supportive of Mr. Trump, others are not.
Norman Braman, a billionaire South Florida auto dealer, and Paul Singer, founder of the Elliott Management hedge fund, two key financial backers of Mr. Rubio in 2016, both put money behind presidential primary opponents of Mr. Trump this year. Mr. Braman supported Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, and Singer donated to Ms. Haley.
One complication for Mr. Rubio’s vice-presidential prospects is that he and Mr. Trump are both residents of the same state, which could run afoul of a constitutional rule.
While Mr. Trump maintains additional homes in New Jersey and New York, and switched his residency as president, he has told people Mr. Rubio would have to legally move to another state to join the ticket.
Mr. Trump has told these people that it would probably be difficult for Mr. Rubio to move his family but that Florida voters would be too upset to lose the former president as a resident.
Mr. Scott, the only Black Republican in the Senate, is already helping Mr. Trump raise money.