Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy on Friday said if former President Donald Trump wants to win in November, he should make an unexpected choice for his running mate: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.
Mr. Trump is expected to announce his vice presidential pick during the Republican National Convention next week in Milwaukee. Mr. Youngkin isn’t on the VP short list, which includes North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, J.D. Vance of Ohio, Tim Scott of South Carolina.
Despite that, Mr. McCarthy said the Old Dominion’s governor could give the former president the edge he needs to retake the White House.
“Rubio would be excellent. Tim Scott would be excellent,” Mr. McCarthy said during an episode of “Real Time With Bill Maher.” “If you really want to play the game, I want to win the election, pick Youngkin in Virginia. Put Youngkin in play and the race is over.”
When pressed on why choosing Mr. Youngkin would be a winning move, Mr. McCarthy said the governor’s popularity in Virginia could help capture the state’s 13 electoral votes.
Virginia has not supported a Republican presidential candidate since 2004. Mr. Trump endorsed Mr. Youngkin in 2021 during his successful bid for governor. His win gave the GOP the governor’s mansion in Virginia for the first time in eight years.
No consensus pick has surfaced among Republicans for vice president. Support for Mr. Vance, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Scott and Mr. Burgum is split, while Donald Trump Jr. has come out for Mr. Vance.
Each of those contenders was either a heavy critic, like Mr. Vance during Mr. Trump’s first run in 2016 or ran against him for the White House.
Ultimately, Mr. Trump will make the decision. During a radio interview Friday on “The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show,” he said picking a candidate is like a “highly sophisticated” version of his reality show “The Apprentice” and admitted it’s a tough call.
“I have some really, really good candidates. And, you know, I may be leaning one way and that changes sometimes,” Mr. Trump said. “You know, all of a sudden you see something that you like or you don’t like and you lean a little bit differently … but we have a very good bench.”
• Alex Miller can be reached at amiller@washingtontimes.com.
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