More than a half-dozen Republicans are rumored to be under consideration to be former President Donald Trump’s running mate, and nearly all joined him in Atlanta for his debate Thursday with President Joe Biden.
Several of them, including North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance, sang Trump’s praises after it ended.
“Right now, he’s in a great spot,” Burgum told NBC News after the debate. “He’s calm, he’s strong, he’s confident.”
Asked whether he has been asked to join the GOP ticket, Burgum said he was waiting for Trump’s announcement like everyone else.
“Tonight is about President Trump’s big victory, and he’ll make that decision,” he said. “He’ll make a good one at a time of his choosing. There’s only one person who knows who the next VP is, and that is President Trump.”
Trump said before the debate that his future VP would be in Atlanta with him. Other potential picks arrived in the city earlier in the week and hosted events around town hyping the Republican’s campaign.
U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds was among the panelists at a pro-Trump event held Wednesday morning at Rocky’s Barbershop in Buckhead. The eight barber chairs and one folding chair for waiting customers were all lined up in one direction. Otherwise, it was like any other day at the small shop, where talk among its Black male clientele is always heavy on politics and jokes.
Donalds teased fellow GOP Congressman Wesley Hunt of Texas about his lack of need for a barber and ribbed another panelist for his long-winded answers. About halfway through the hourlong discussion, Donalds pulled out his phone and held it up to a microphone.
“All right, everybody, you’re on with the president,” Donalds said.
Trump answered questions from the panelists and local Black business owners and community leaders for about 10 minutes.
“I hope I’m being well represented; I have a feeling I am,” the former president said. “Wesley, good job on television this morning, by the way.”
Nearly all of the serious contenders to be Trump’s running mate took a turn after the debate in the spin room, a space near the debate hall where the media conducted live interviews with prominent figures from both campaigns.
Then they made the rounds at a private watch party hosted by Kelly Loeffler, a Georgian and former U.S. senator.
All of this was part of an extended audition for Trump’s potential running mates. He isn’t required to formally announce who will join him on the ticket until the Republican National Convention, which begins July 15. But he could do so at any moment before then.
Ben Carson, who served as housing secretary under Trump, said Wednesday that the future of democracy rests on this election.
“We will not be able to keep our country if we continue down this road,” he told the small crowd of Trump supporters who attended a campaign office opening in an east Cobb office park.
Guests had arrived donned in “Make America Great Again” hats and shirts and sat beside campaign signs that said, “Joe Biden, you’re fired!”
Carson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he hopes Trump “makes a very good choice for the country” for his vice president and hinted at again taking on a role within the administration.
“He has good political sense, and he knows what he needs to complement what he does himself,” Carson said.
“As far as I’m concerned, I’m dedicated to trying to save our country, whether I do that from inside the next administration or continue to do it with American Cornerstone,” he said, referring to his conservative think tank.
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