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A surprising contender surfaces in race to be Trump's VP pick

Back in 2016, just 6 percent of Black voters backed Donald Trump as a presidential candidate, per data from the Pew Research Center. That number rose, albeit slightly, to 8 percent in 2020.

But a Gallup survey from earlier this month revealed that 19 percent of Black adults identify with or lean toward the Republican Party.

Trump, ever the opportunist, has sought to use that data to his advantage — in spite of his long-standing background of racist actions and comments. Might the Republican frontrunner, who once declared himself “the least racist person that you’ve ever encountered,” become convinced that a Black running mate will give him an electoral edge over President Joe Biden?

During a town hall-style forum in South Carolina last week, Trump acknowledged the possibility. And not only is Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) — the nation’s only Black Republican senator — on his vice presidential shortlist, but so, too, is Rep. Byron Donalds (R-FL).

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Donalds, a Black lawmaker who has represented the Sunshine State’s 19th Congressional District since January 2021, is not yet a household name nationally. But the 45-year-old has risen quickly in the Republican Party, a fact evidenced by his spot on Trump’s shortlist.

Which begs the question: How did Donalds get to this point, and does he have a legitimate chance at being Trump’s running mate?

When asked about being on Trump’s shortlist, Donalds deflected.

“Man, it’s cool. It’s kinda surreal,” he told Spectrum News on Thursday, after his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in National Harbor, Md. “But, you know what, you just work hard, do your job, don’t worry about much else.”

Donalds’ press team did not reply to a request for comment.

Modesty aside, Donalds has been angling to be in Trump’s corner for some time now.

An unsuccessful Tea Party candidate in the 2012 election to represent the 19th District in the House of Representatives, he later was elected to the Florida House in 2016.

During his 2020 House campaign, Donalds was unequivocal about his political identity, deeming himself a “Trump-supporting, liberty-loving, pro-life, pro-Second Amendment Black man.”

Since taking office, his legislative focus has been more granular. A member of the Financial Services and Oversight and Accountability committees, Donalds has sponsored bills to promote the use of nuclear energy and expand the oversight authority of the Small Business Administration.

He also launched a short-lived candidacy for speaker of the House last year. Prior to current Speaker Mike Johnson capturing the gavel, Donalds received 119 votes across four separate ballots.

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Donalds has also wasted no time displaying his fealty to the 45th president. After being sworn in on Jan. 3, 2021, the then-42-year-old voted to object to the certification of electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania, two swing states won by Biden, just three days later — after Congress reconvened in the wake of the Jan. 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol.

Once the 2024 race ramped up, he displayed that loyalty to Trump once again.

In April, Donalds endorsed Trump for the Republican nomination, saying, “There is only one leader at this time in our nation’s history who can seize this moment and deliver what we need to get us back on track, provide strength and resolve.”

The endorsement came despite Donalds’ longtime allyship with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was yet to officially announce his presidential campaign. DeSantis entered the race in May, but initially high hopes for the Floridian gave way to a campaign marred by public missteps, internal friction and an inability to effectively spar with the always aggressive Trump.

In August, Donalds piled on, telling The Washington Post amid DeSantis’ summer swoon that “it’s kind of what I expected to see.”

DeSantis suspended his campaign prior to January’s New Hampshire primary and endorsed Trump.

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Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is the lone challenger left in the race. Trump easily defeated her in Michigan’s primary this week, and Super Tuesday is just over a week away — Trump is all but assured of defeating Haley in each of the 15 states and one territory in play that day.

Trump remains the frontrunner over Haley despite numerous legal woes — the former president faces 91 felony charges across four criminal cases pending within courtrooms in Florida, Georgia, New York and Washington, D.C. Trump has also been found liable for sexual assault, defamation and fraud across separate civil cases.

Donalds, though, has stood by Trump. On Sunday, during an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press, Donalds said that the Trump criminal cases are a form of “political persecution from the Department of Justice and from radical DAs throughout our country.”

He even defended the former president drawing parallels between the indictments and how African Americans have been treated by the justice system, saying that he wasn’t offended by it.

“I got indicted a second time and a third time and a fourth time, and a lot of people said that that’s why the Black people like me, because they have been hurt so badly and discriminated against, and they actually viewed me as I’m being discriminated against,” Trump said on Friday, during the Black Conservative Federation gala in Columbia, S.C.

“What Americans don't want to see, especially Black Americans and anybody else, they don't want to see a politicized Justice Department,” Donalds said on Meet the Press. “They don't want to see a two-tier system of justice. They want justice to be followed.

“They want Lady Justice to be blind. That's what the American people want. That's what Black voters want. That's what everybody wants.”

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Donalds’ reward, for now, is a spot on Trump’s vice presidential shortlist.

But does Donalds have a legitimate chance at being tabbed for the role?

According to a straw poll taken at CPAC last week, Donalds wasn’t attendees’ first (or second, or third, or fourth) choice.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy were the top two choices (both with 15 percent of the vote), followed by former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii with 9 percent, and Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) and Scott, each with 8 percent.

Then, it’s Donalds at 7 percent. He may not be the frontrunner — gambling site Oddschecker doesn’t even offer odds on him — but Trump’s mere mentioning of his name makes Donalds a factor.

One thing is certain: If Donalds is asked, he’ll accept the position.

He said so at CPAC, reiterating what he said on SiriusXM in November.

“I want to do everything to help win back the White House,” Donalds told The New York Post at CPAC last week.

That goal could include a spot as Trump’s running mate — the first Black American ever on a Republican presidential ticket.

'Unconstitutional overreach': Trump VP contenders clash on Jan. 6

WASHINGTON — Barring something monumental — a health crisis, a debilitating legal development — Donald Trump is all but guaranteed to become the 2024 Republican presidential nominee.

And potential Trump running mates seem to be working overtime this month to audition for the part.

In doing so, many are contrasting their philosophies and MAGA fealty to that of former Vice President Mike Pence, who Trump long ago dumped from consideration.

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On January 6, 2021, Pence refused calls from Trump and his allies to overturn the results in crucial swing states during a congressional joint session to certify the 2020 election — won by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.

So what would any of Trump’s current vice presidential suitors do differently, given the same chance as Pence to certify the 2020 presidential election?

The answer: it depends.

Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY)

Just last week, Stefanik was asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins about what she would have done had she been the vice president that day.

Her response, which contained multiple falsehoods, was notable.

“I would not have done what Mike Pence did. I don’t think that was the right approach. … There was unconstitutional overreach in states like Pennsylvania, and I think it’s very important that we continue to stand up for the Constitution and have legal and secure elections, which we did not have in 2020.”

Stefanik, 39, was one of Trump’s most vocal supporters in the House in the midst of his attempts to overturn the election. Even after the attack on the Capitol, she voted against certifying the results in Pennsylvania, a state that Biden won by just over 80,000 votes.

South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem

Noem, who has campaigned for Trump during the primary, has not definitively said whether she supported Pence’s decision to not block or attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Instead, she’s used a common tactic among Republicans in the aftermath of the attack on the Capitol: condemn the riots, while emphasizing the need for election reform.

“What happened on January 6 was horrible and should never happen again in this country,” she said in January of 2021. “What I want to do is look forward and make sure that we continue to have fair and transparent elections that people can trust.”

Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy

Six days after the Jan. 6 attacks, Ramaswamy posted on X (formerly Twitter) that “what Trump did last week was wrong. Downright abhorrent. Plain and simple.”

Since then, though, he has changed his tune, defending Trump’s role in the attack.

During an appearance on NBC News’ Meet the Press in August, the entrepreneur said he would have handled the situation differently than Pence did, although he didn’t offer many specifics.

“I think that there was a historic opportunity that he missed to reunite this country in that window,” said Ramaswamy, who himself ran for president but suspended his campaign after the Iowa Caucuses. “What I would have said is, ‘This is a moment for a true national consensus,’ where there's two elements of what's required for a functioning democracy in America. One is secure elections, and the second is a peaceful transfer of power.”

Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson

In the years since, Carson has not said much regarding the events of January 6, or Pence’s role in the certification of the election.

The day of, though, he condemned the attacks on the Capitol, posting on X that “violence is never an appropriate response regardless of legitimate concerns. Please remember: if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand.”

Shortly after, he told the Washington Examiner that while Trump should have toned down his rhetoric on January 6, he was “not sure that we can say that all this was all one person’s fault.”

Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC)

Scott, despite his South Carolina ties, endorsed Trump over Haley last month. It marked a surprising pivot from the 58-year-old, but one that has been seen from a number of Congressional Republicans since Trump announced his initial campaign for president in June of 2015.

But at the time, Scott did not object to the certification of election results, and said in a town hall in July of last year that he did “not believe the election was stolen.”

During the first Republican debate in Milwaukee last August, Scott defended Pence’s actions on January 6, saying “absolutely, he did the right thing.”

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley

Haley has been steadfast on the matter. The 52-year-old has consistently defended Pence, making it unlikely that she will be on the ticket — despite it being a move that would unite the party in advance of the general election.

“Mike Pence is a good man. He’s an honest man. I think he did what he thought was right on that day,” she said in February of 2022.

“The fact that he wanted to change what the states did, the fact that he wanted to overturn the elections in D.C. — those votes happen at the state level," she said last month. "You don’t ever allow in D.C. for those votes to be changed at the federal level. States’ rights matter.”

Of course, Haley remains in the presidential race, running against Trump in the Republican primary. Both candidates have incessantly trashed one another. Trump selecting Haley seems implausible.

But for years, Trump and Haley have found themselves in a political make up/break up cycle, and Trump has long shown a willingness to welcome outcasts back into his orbit — if it suits his needs.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum

Burgum condemned the violence at the Capitol on January 6, and told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in August of last year that the party “had to move on to the future.”

The 67-year-old governor, who suspended his own presidential campaign last December, endorsed Trump last month and has been on the campaign trail for the former president.

Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Sanders, who endorsed Trump in November, said in announcing her Arkansas gubernatorial candidacy in January of 2021 that the events of January 6 were “not who we are as Americans.” A former White House spokesperson for Trump, she has not directly commented on Pence’s role in certifying the election.

Sanders has long touted her time in the Trump White House, and while a longshot for the vice presidential position, could be in line for some Trump administration post in the event the then-78-year-old Trump wins the presidency in November.

Kari Lake

Lake was one of the most vocal backers of Trump’s plot to overturn the election, and even sought to overturn her loss to Katie Hobbs in the 2022 Arizona Gubernatorial race.

In December, she promoted a far-right conspiracy that the events of January 6 were partially staged.

“All that January 6 was, was a staged riot to cover up the fact that they certified a fraudulent election,” she said in August, during longtime Trump advisor Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast. “And frankly, if [Pence’s] got a problem with what happened on January 6th, he should … talk to the folks in the FBI who planted a bunch of you know, rabble rousers in the crowd to cause trouble.”

Lake is currently running for the U.S. Senate in Arizona.

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH)

Vance, who has gone from self-proclaimed “Never Trump” conservative to staunch Trump backer, was asked by Stephanopoulos on Feb. 4 what he would have done if in Pence’s position on Jan. 6, outlined an approach that would have differed heavily from that of the then-vice president.

“If I had been Vice President, I would have told the states, like Pennsylvania, Georgia and so many others, that we needed to have multiple slates of electors and I think the U.S. Congress should have fought over it from there,” said Vance, who became a senator in 2023. “That is the legitimate way to deal with an election that a lot of folks, including me, think had a lot of problems in 2020.”

Vance, 39, is — along with Scott — the most likely vice presidential choice from the Senate. His conversion to Trump’s wing of the party could pay off come this summer in the form of a spot on the ticket.