GOP rep urges Trump to 'unify the party' by picking this candidate to be his running mate

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump is still mulling over who to name as his 2024 running mate this November. One far-right member of the House of Representatives is suggesting Trump pick an especially unorthodox candidate.

According to CNN congressional reporter Manu Raju, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-South Carolina), who is a member of the arch-conservative House Freedom Caucus, wants Trump to pick former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley. Raju tweeted that Norman confided to Trump that naming his former United Nations ambassador would be the best way to shore up the most Republican votes ahead of the November election.

"[Norman] urged Trump over the weekend to pick Haley as VP to help unify the party," Raju wrote. "He also said that Haley should endorse Trump."

While nearly all of Trump's 2024 Republican rivals have since fallen in line behind him and given their endorsement, Haley and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie — who based his campaign around his opposition to Trump — remain the last holdouts of the GOP field. Haley suspended her campaign after the March 5 Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses, having won just one Republican nominating contest in Vermont. She has 89 total delegates who will be waving her banner at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this summer.

Trump hasn't rushed to court Haley's voters, however, convinced that they'll come on board in time for the general election. The 45th president of the United States even mocked her after she ended her campaign, bragging on his Truth Social platform that he "TROUNCED" his final primary opponent on Super Tuesday. President Joe Biden, on the other hand, has made numerous entreaties to Haley's base, telling them that "there is a place" for them in his campaign.

"It takes a lot of courage to run for president — that's especially true in today's Republican Party, where so few dare to speak the truth about Donald Trump," Biden stated in March. "Nikki Haley was willing to speak the truth about Trump: about the chaos that always follows him, about his inability to see right from wrong, about his cowering before Vladimir Putin."

After she ended her campaign, Haley didn't appear to be in a hurry to endorse Trump, telling him that he would have to "earn" the support of her voters without her help. She also gave an interview to NBC News after dropping out of the 2024 race, telling Meet the Press host Kristen Welker that she wasn't sure if Trump would actually govern by the rules imposed by the U.S. Constitution if he won a second term in the White House.

Trump has so far not succeeded in winning over the small but considerable segment of the GOP that supported Haley. Tuesday's primaries in Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia found that roughly 20% of Republican voters still cast their ballots for Haley even though she's been out of the race for months.

This could be more worrisome for Trump in swing states that Biden narrowly won in 2020, like Georgia. The Peach State's Republican primary was the first nominating contest to take place after Haley suspended her campaign, and while tens of thousands of Haley's voters cast their ballots early prior to her dropping out, thousands more voted for her in-person.

Because Biden won Georgia by less than 12,000 votes in the last election, this suggests that the Democratic incumbent has a path to victory by peeling off a portion of Haley's base in battleground states where every ballot could make a crucial difference. Other states that Trump won in 2016 that Biden managed to swing blue in 2020 — like Arizona, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — also had considerable numbers of Republican primary voters who backed Haley over Trump.

Haley is unlikely to be named as Trump's running mate, however. Some of the leading candidates on the shortlist include Reps. Byron Donalds (R-Florida) and Elise Stefanik (R-New York), Sens. Tim Scott (R-South Carolina) and J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum (R) also potentially up for consideration.

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