Donald Trump, who survived an assassination attempt and attended the Republican National Convention in a defiant manner, has yet to announce his running mate, but he said he would do so on Monday.
It’s unclear whether the shooting at a rally in Pennsylvania on Saturday has changed the former president’s mind about who the next presidential candidate will be.
He told Fox News Channel host Bret Baier that he plans to decide on his selection on Monday.
Trump’s choice took on even greater significance after the shooting: If the bullet had hit him just a little to the right, he would likely have been killed or seriously injured.
The close call underscores the importance of the position that brings him one step closer to the presidency.
Sen. Marco Rubio is a likely candidate. (Gerald Herbert/Associated Press)
“We need some good people, or some horrible people, just in case,” he said in May.
“It’s a very important position, especially if something bad happens, it’s of the utmost importance,” he told Fox News Channel’s Harris Faulkner in an interview before boarding a flight from Florida just hours before the shooting.
The people on Trump’s shortlist each have different levels of governing experience.
For example, Ohio Senator J.D. Vance has been in office for less than two years, while North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum governs a state with a smaller population (780,000) than Columbus, Ohio (908,000).
Florida Senator Marco Rubio has been in politics for decades and is in his third term as a senator.
Before the shooting, Trump had made it clear he wanted to dramatically reveal his choice at the convention, saying it would make the event “interesting” and “exciting.”
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is being considered as a candidate. (Alex Brandon/Associated Press)
Trump and the convention organizers have said the convention schedule would go ahead as scheduled despite the shooting, with Trump writing on his social media sites that “we cannot allow a ‘shooter’ or potential assassin to force any changes to the schedule or anything else.”
“At this moment, it is more important than ever that we come together, show our true character as Americans, remain strong and resolute, and do not let evil win,” he wrote.
He met with potential candidates just days before the shooting.
All participants have submitted materials to the competition organizers and, if selected, their materials will be used to prepare the content.
While Trump is waiting until the convention to choose his running mate, it is by no means unprecedented, even though it is later than usual in recent elections.
In 1980, Ronald Reagan spent hours negotiating with former President Gerald Ford during the Republican Convention in Detroit, but when those talks broke down, he settled on former primary rival George H.W. Bush.
Reagan made the decision so last-minute that he did so less than 24 hours before formally accepting his party’s nomination.
Bush himself shocked many people, and some of the vice president’s own top advisers, by waiting until the 1988 Republican National Convention in New Orleans to choose little-known Indiana senator Dan Quayle rather than a more established running mate.
However, since then, it has become tradition to choose a running mate just before the candidate’s party convention.
In 2008, Arizona Sen. John McCain, looking for a way to reset his race against Democrat Barack Obama, nominated the little-known Alaska Governor Sarah Palin for the nomination just before the Republican convention in Minnesota.
He saw an upswing in the polls, but it didn’t last.
Democratic candidate Joe Biden selected then-California Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate six days before the start of the party convention, which was held mostly online because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Trump picked Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his candidate just days before the 2016 Republican National Convention got underway in Cleveland.
