The Wall Street Journal editorial board on Wednesday deemed North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum (R) the best option to serve as former President Trump’s running mate of those being considered for the role.
The Rupert Murdoch-owned Journal described Trump’s vice presidential selection as a major moment for the former president to try to reassure skeptical voters and expand his coalition heading into November.
While the outlet’s editorial board singled out Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin as a strong pick, it acknowledged Burgum, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) appear to be the top finalists for the role.
“If that’s the field, Mr. Burgum is the best man,” the editorial board wrote, citing his business experience, and his suggesting he could be loyal to Trump while being “unafraid to offer hard advice or speak an unhappy truth when the moment demands it.”
“Vance and Rubio bring much less to the ticket,” the editorial board wrote.
The editorial board criticized Vance, a first-term senator, as “a young man in a seeming hurry to be Don Jr., though that role is already taken,” and as a “political opportunist” in opposing U.S. aid to Ukraine.
The editorial board wrote Rubio has “remade himself from a tea party insurgent in 2010 into an advocate of industrial policy and redistributing income through the tax code. He voted against aid to Ukraine despite a career of hawkish foreign policy stances.”
“Would either Senator tell Mr. Trump the truth in a crisis?” the board wrote.
Trump allies and sources close to the former president’s orbit told The Hill that Burgum, Vance and Rubio are considered the likeliest picks at this point, though a handful of others have received vetting materials, and Trump could make a surprise choice.
The former president has suggested he could announce his running mate at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee next month, but strategists and those in his orbit said the timing remains fluid, and he could reveal his pick in early July before the GOP gathering.
Burgum, while lesser known nationally, has deep pockets and a similar trajectory to Trump of going from the business world to the political arena. Trump and his team like that Burgum is a disciplined messenger who won’t overshadow or upstage the former president. Trump and Burgum also get along well personally, sources told The Hill.
One source suggested Murdoch-owned properties have been advocating against Vance — in addition to Wednesday’s editorial in the Journal, the senator has been asked during multiple recent Fox News appearances for old social media posts criticizing Trump.