US

Trump donors warm to Marco Rubio as running mate

Florida senator who ran for Republican nomination in 2016 has since backed Trump

Marco Rubio was swarmed by donors at a Republican event at Mar-a-Lago last week. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Alex Rogers in Washington
Fri May 10 2024 - 10:25

Marco Rubio has emerged as a favourite of donors to become Donald Trump’s running mate, as the former president looks for candidates who can widen his appeal and help fund his White House campaign and legal bills.

The Florida senator was swarmed by donors at a Republican event at Mar-a-Lago last week during which Mr Trump tried to gauge his audience’s reaction to a list of potential running mates, said people who attended.

“Marco, by far, was the one who had the most attention,” said a Republican strategist who attended the fundraiser. “Rubio was mobbed from start to finish,” said another person.

Mr Rubio ran against Mr Trump for the Republican Party’s nomination in 2016. During that campaign, Mr Trump dubbed him “Little Marco” and the men exchanged barbs about the size of Mr Trump’s hands. Mr Rubio has since backed Mr Trump from the US Senate, where he is vice-chair of the intelligence committee.

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Mr Rubio is the latest high-profile Republican, alongside fellow US senators and JD Vance and Tim Scott, to gain favour among Trump allies – although if selected as the running mate he would have to move from Florida to satisfy a constitutional requirement that the president and vice-president live in different states.

Former US president Donald Trump during a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago, his club in Florida. Photograph: Doug Mills/New York Times

Mr Trump’s vice-presidential selection will offer him an opportunity to define his election message and bring other parts of the Republican Party into his campaign ahead of the Republican convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in July. In 2016, Trump’s selection of Mike Pence helped lock in votes from traditional conservatives and evangelical Republicans.

A Rubio spokesperson declined to comment when asked if he would consider serving as vice-president.

Mr Trump is enjoying the contest for the role, according to Jacob Helberg, a Republican donor and Palantir executive who also attended last week’s event at Mr Trump’s resort.

“He’s having fun with it,” Mr Helberg said.

Mr Trump prizes loyalty but also needs cash for the White House race against Joe Biden – and to pay mounting legal bills relating to many criminal and civil charges against him. Donors have paid more than $76 million of his legal fees since January 2023, or about a quarter of the money the former president has raised.

Deep-pocketed potential running mates, including North Dakota’s governor Doug Burgum, the libertarian entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and investor Rick Scott, would bring their own money to the ticket. Mr Rubio and Tim Scott, a South Carolina senator, have strong ties to conservative megadonors.

Tim Scott will hold an event in Washington, DC on June 19th attended by Citadel boss Ken Griffin, Apollo chief executive Marc Rowan and Pershing Square founder Bill Ackman – mega donors who backed challengers to Mr Trump in the Republican primary this year. Billionaire oil baron and Trump donor Tim Dunn will also attend, as will Silicon Valley investor Marc Andreessen.

Although politicians close to Mr Trump have advocated so-called “Maga” candidates as running mates – including Mr Vance – donors said Mr Trump needed to find a candidate who would appeal to voters beyond his base.

Pauline Ng Lee, a Nevada Republican who will co-host a Trump fundraiser in June, said Mr Rubio or Mr Scott would “pull in a greater, wider array of Republicans and nonpartisans – and even some moderate Democrats”.

Businessman mega donor Art Pope, who backed Nikki Haley’s primary bid against Mr Trump this year, said the running mate pick would determine whether he backed the former president. He called on Mr Trump to pick someone “who represents the broader centre-right, traditional conservative coalition, rather than a populist”.

Mr Rubio, a Cuban-American, and Mr Scott, the sole Black Republican in the US Senate, could help peel off Hispanic and African-American voters from Mr Biden’s base.

“He raises a lot of money,” said Mr Helberg of Rubio. “He obviously has spent years building relationships with the American Latino community, which matters a lot in politics.”

Mr Vance, who is close to Mr Trump’s son Donald Jnr, has long been on the list despite his criticisms in 2016 of Mr Trump’s “America First” policy views, and remains a donor favourite.

“I think there is a desire for diversity but at the end of the day I think JD Vance would be the best pick because he is a credible, intelligent, capable person who has strong ties to the core Trump base of working class people,” said donor Trevor Traina, who served as Mr Trump’s ambassador to Austria.

Among women floated by donors as potential running mates are congresswoman Elise Stefanik and Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the Arkansas governor who served as Mr Trump’s White House spokeswoman.

South Dakota governor Kristi Noem’s chances appear to have slipped after she boasted in a memoir about killing her pet dog.

“I think that Kristi Noem has shot herself in the foot,” New York billionaire John Catsimatidis, who has co-chaired big fundraisers for Trump, told the Financial Times.

The candidate field also includes Mr Trump’s former secretary of state Mike Pompeo.

Mr Trump will seek more loyalty from his running mate than he received from Pence, who as vice-president refused Trump’s demand to help overturn the 2020 election result.

– Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2024

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