\n<\/p>\n
As he races toward a likely victory in Tuesday\u2019s New Hampshire primary, Donald Trump<\/strong> is turning the Granite State contest into a vice presidential sweepstakes.<\/p>\n Over the weekend, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance,<\/strong> South Carolina Senator Tim Scott<\/strong>, and New York Representative Elise Stefanik<\/strong> stumped for Trump at events in New Hampshire ahead of the primary. All three have been floated as potential Trump running mates.<\/p>\n Scott, who ended his brief and lackluster presidential bid in November, took the opportunity Friday to offer his full-throated endorsement<\/a> of the former president, snubbing Nikki Haley<\/strong>, who also hails from the Palmetto State and appointed Scott to his Senate seat in 2012.<\/p>\n \u201cWe need a president who will close our southern border today. We need Donald Trump,\u201d Scott said at a rally in Concord, New Hampshire, where chants of \u201cVP\u201d rang out through the crowd. \u201cWe need a president who will unite our country. We need Donald Trump. We need a president who will protect your Social Security and my momma\u2019s Social Security.\u201d<\/p>\n In a Sunday appearance on CNN, Scott was asked<\/a> about \u201cVP\u201d chants and whether he was angling for the vice presidency. \u201cThe only thing I want is four more years of Donald Trump and a Republican majority in the Senate, majority in the House and the White House,\u201d Scott responded. After CNN host Dana Bash<\/strong> pressed him on whether he was keeping the door \u201cwide open\u201d for a spot on a Trump ticket, Scott replied, \u201cYou can take it any way you want.\u201d<\/p>\n If Scott is entering a de facto Veep sweepstakes, he\u2019s joining a somewhat crowded field. Vance, who campaigned hard for Trump\u2019s endorsement in 2022 and has been floated as a potential VP pick, told a crowd in Kingston Saturday that \u201cif you\u2019re undecided, throw up your hand. I want to try to persuade you.\u201d Asked about his interest in the vice presidency, Vance suggested that he\u2019d be a more effective asset for Trump in the Senate, but promised<\/a> to \u201chelp him however I can.\u201d<\/p>\n The Republican who has campaigned perhaps most vociferously on Trump\u2019s behalf in New Hampshire has been Stefanik. (Like Vance, Stefanik is a former Trump critic turned MAGA superstar.) Stumping for Trump in Manchester, the New York Congresswoman parroted<\/a> Trumpian lines on the border wall, the \u201cfake\u201d news media, and the legal cases unfolding against the former president, which she dubbed a \u201cwitch hunt.\u201d<\/p>\n At a rally the previous day, Trump cooed over Stefanik\u2019s starring role in the December House hearing on antisemitism in higher education. \u201cElise became very famous,\u201d Trump said. \u201cWasn\u2019t it beautiful?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d be honored to serve in the Trump administration in any capacity,\u201d Stefanik told<\/a> The Washington Post<\/em> on Saturday, adding that she\u2019s \u201cfocused on being a surrogate.\u201d Stefanik also said she\u2019s friends with her fellow GOP legislators who are considered potential Trump running mates. \u201cWe are showing a full-court press,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Ahead of the first Republican nominating contest in Iowa, which he ultimately won handily, Trump similarly enlisted a group of potential veep picks as campaign surrogates, including Georgie Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene<\/strong>, former Arizona gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake<\/strong>, and North Dakota Governor Kristi Noem<\/strong>, The New York Times<\/em> reported<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump famously hemmed and hawed over his vice presidential pick in 2016, only settling on<\/a> Mike Pence<\/strong> in July of that campaign season, just days before the Republican National Convention. But in an appearance on Fox News earlier in January, Trump teased that he already knew who he planned to pick. Asked who it might be, Trump replied<\/a>, \u201cI can\u2019t tell you that really.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n