Amid rumors that former President Donald Trump might choose former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as his running mate for next year’s election, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is as curious as voters as to Haley’s thoughts on the idea.
During his campaign in New Hampshire on Friday, the Florida governor challenged Haley to publicly state if she would accept the vice presidential offer from Trump if he secures the Republican Party’s presidential ticket.
DeSantis Pushes Haley To State Whether She Would Accept VP Pick From Trump https://t.co/2M5HGIq56U pic.twitter.com/eHxgpntbe0
— Daily Wire News (@DailyWireNews) December 16, 2023
Arguing that he is the better candidate in the GOP presidential pool suited to beat Trump in the primary, he stated that Haley does not have the kind of support he has.
As he said, “Haley cannot get enough support from core Republicans and conservatives, she’s getting support from people who either aren’t Republicans or are on kind of the 10-15% [Never Trump-wing of the GOP], which is fine, I mean, you need those people for it to win the general. But you have to be able to appeal to conservatives and core Republicans, and I’m the only one that can do that.”
He later suggested that there is a reason why Trump and Haley’s campaigns focus on attacking him. “There’s a reason why they spend money against me, Haley and Trump spend money against me. He has not spent any money against her. And she has not spent any money against him,” he said.
He then asked the big question, saying, “She will not answer directly, and she owes you an answer to this, will she accept a vice presidential nomination from Donald Trump? Yes or no?”
DeSantis also stated that he would never agree to being Trump’s running mate as that is not his purpose for running. According to him, he would “rather be governor than vice president.”
Speculations about Haley as Trump’s running mate started after the GOP front runner’s daughter-in-law, Lara, was asked about it during an interview with Newsmax last week. Lara had made a remark suggesting that Trump was open to the idea.
Trump, however, denied ever considering having Haley as his VP pick during an interview on Friday, even though he said he thought the idea was “interesting.”
He then added that he has “always gotten along” with the former UN ambassador, but not before clarifying that having her as a running mate is “unlikely.”
