Veepstakes: Who’s the Favorite To Be Trump’s Next VP?

At the Republican National Convention July 15-18, Republicans will officially coronate Donald Trump as the party’s standard-bearer president, along with a vice presidential nominee. After Trump said he will announce his choice  at the Milwaukee convention, speculation heated up about whom he will pick as his running mate. 

One straw poll from over the weekend among grassroots activists at Turning Point Action’s “The People’s Convention” had the favorite of the attendees at the convention as Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance. The poll, conducted with 1,986 respondents according to Daily Mail, had Vance as the frontrunner at 43%.

In second place in the poll was South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who received 15.4% in the straw vote. After Scott dropped out of the presidential race last November, he indicated he wasn’t angling for the second spot on the GOP ticket: “Being vice president has never been on my to-do list for this campaign,” he said then, “and it’s certainly not there now.” However, in recent interviews, Scott has indicated he is open to the idea, saying, “We’ll see,” in response to a question about whether he will be Trump’s No. 2 in a recent Newsmax interview.

The other two contenders who registered in the weekend straw poll results were Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who received 7.7%, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who received 7%. 

These four candidates have reportedly received vetting documents and financial background inquiries as part of the Trump campaign’s search process. Others have received these vetting documents as well, including New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson, and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton. This list isn’t necessarily final; others could still receive the vetting forms. 

Current betting markets have it as a close contest for VP between Burgum, Vance, Scott, Rubio, and Carson.

Despite trailing other candidates in the Turning Point poll, Burgum is a slight favorite in current online betting odds. According to BetOnline, he has about a 1 in 4 chance of being the Veep candidate. Marco Rubio is the worst of the 5, with odds indicating his chances at 1 in 6. After the five frontrunners, Elise Stefanik is in a distant 6th place, with odds indicating a 1 in 15 chance she will get the nod. Other betting odds charts have a similar list, with Predictit also indicating Burgum has about a 1 in 4 chance of being the next vice presidential candidate.