Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has explicitly stated that he will not entertain the idea of being Donald Trump’s running mate, despite being on the former president’s list of potential candidates.
“People were mentioning me as a potential vice president, I am not doing that, ” DeSantis said in a thank-you call with delegates for his presidential campaign.
He went on to say that he is looking at other options, possibly running for president in four years.
DeSantis, 45, revealed his thoughts on the characteristics he thinks are essential in a Trump running mate, emphasizing the necessity for someone who can “do the job” right away and showing a preference for governors.
Furthermore, he stated, “I think my criteria [for running mate] was different than what probably Donald Trump’s criteria will be.”
“I need someone who can do the job if it came to that, and I would have been the third-youngest president elected, so chances are, actually, I would probably be in pretty good shape, but you never know what else can happen, it’s happened before,” he stated to the campaign delegates.
“I’m not sure that those are necessarily going to be the criteria that Donald Trump uses. I think he’s going to probably use different criteria. I’ve heard that they are looking more at identity politics,” DeSantis said. “I think that’s a mistake. I think you should just focus on who you think the best person for the job would be.”
Trump unveiled a wide-ranging roster of possible picks for his running mate in 2024, which included DeSantis in addition to Tulsi Gabbard, Tim Scott, Byron Donalds, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Kristi Noem.
After finishing second to Trump in the Iowa caucus, DeSantis halted his campaign and subsequently endorsed the former president over rival candidate Nikki Haley.
The governor of Florida reflected on the difficulties encountered throughout the campaign and acknowledged the attacks by Trump and his supporters, attributing part of the animosity to those who had previous complaints.
DeSantis gave a summary of his future goals, dropping hints about what his fans might expect in the way of updates and possible directions to pursue.
