UPDATED: Should Trump and DeSantis Run Together?
Is a United G.O.P. Ticket the Strongest Option? Is It Possible?
Could Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis share the 2024 Republican presidential ticket? Would they? And are their chances better together than apart?
UPDATE: Within hours of this piece hitting Substack, DeSantis indicated he would not join Trump: βI donβt think so, Iβm not a number two guy,β DeSantis told Wisconsin Right Now.
But DeSantis is not the first candidate faced with the looming shadow of a competing presumed nominee to make such a statement. "Kamala Harris used humor to swat aside the chatter about her becoming Joe Bidenβs running mate: Maybe it should be the other way around, she said [in May 2019], given Bidenβs experience in the No. 2 job," Politico noted once upon a time.
Donors might be leery of cutting checks to anyone they perceive as an eventual vice-presidential candidate. Only the DeSantis campaign and its donors know whether or to what extent this has become an issue for him. But if the past is prologue, it remains too early to rule-out anything but the known facts.
Trump may serve only one more presidential term. So, instead of an eight-year wait for an incumbent to step aside, Vice President DeSantis would be the top Republican candidate in just four years, presumably with Trumpβs full support. Otherwise DeSantis would damage his brand head-to-head against Trump, who, politically speaking, publicly waterboarded Jeb Bush, Florida's last governor-turned-presidential-candidate who opposed him.
As it stands, Trump remains the clear leader of both the Republican presidential primary and the party itself. His campaign raised over $35 million last quarter, about 75 percent more than the $20 million DeSantis raised. (Super PACs for each candidate have raised and spent much more.)
DeSantis, for his part, won Florida in 2022 by a record 19.4 points. He also won Miami-Dade County by 11.3 points, an βunthinkableβ loss for the Democrats in one of their historic strongholds. DeSantis thus showed deeper inroads with African Americans and Latinos than Trump did in 2020.
Such are the assets Trump and DeSantis each has that the other needs to (re)take the White House. Trump, for example, needs a running mate who appeals to voters he would otherwise miss. Republicans come to mind who served in Trumpβs administration whom he holds dearβJohn Ratcliffe, Ben Carson, Michael Flynnβbut none won a statewide election or held a top Executive position.
DeSantis is also a relative outsider, perceived as unbeholden-to and largely uncompromised-by the D.C. establishment. Simply put, DeSantis is the most appealing and viable of Trumpβs possible choices. And Florida, where DeSantis remains the very popular governor, has 30 Electoral College votes, more than a tenth of the 270 required to win.
DeSantis, in turn, needs Trumpβs Republican majority if he is ever to have a serious shot at the presidency. Opposing Trump in 2024 hurts that goal. In contrast, four years networking and learning on the job as vice president would be an asset. George H.W. Bush and Richard Nixon were both elected president after serving as vice president.
An argument also is to be made in the G.O.P.βs must-win anti-establishment circles that Trump is now wiser to βthe swampβ than could be expected of anyone new to the office; Trump has the benefit of hindsight while DeSantis, without the benefit of Trumpβs experience, would be more susceptible to the kind of political maneuvers that vexed Trump his entire administration. Everyone likely expects that on Jan. 20, 2025, Trump, with many scores to settle, would clean house much more deeply than would DeSantis.
But DeSantis, 44, has at least one other advantage Trump lacks at age 77: the option to wait to enable a later, stronger presidential bid. In fact, a man older than DeSantis found his relative youth a liability against a strong, 73-year-old Republican with stage experience. When questioned about his age and perceived loss of acuity compared to Democratic nominee Walter Mondale, Ronald Reagan famously responded: βI am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponentβs youth and inexperience.β
As a vice-presidential candidate, however, DeSantisβs youthfulness would complement Trumpβs age and provide a clear line of succession beneficial to the G.O.P.
But could the two run and work together? Each has jabbed the other.
Trump referred to his rival as βRon DeSanctimoniousβ and said he needs βa personality transplant.β
DeSantis seemingly compared his governorship to Trumpβs White House: βWe donβt have palace intrigue. We donβt have any drama. Itβs just execution every single day.β
Neither has pledged to support the other if the other wins the nomination.
But such spats often get resolved. Trump derisively nicknamed then reconciled with a few politicians. And Trump and DeSantis would not be the first to butt heads then run together. In 2020, then-presidential-contender Kamala Harris confronted Joe Biden on segregation then became Bidenβs running mate.
Ultimately, the Trump and DeSantis campaigns will decide this issue. Surely it is on their radars. The question is not merely should they run together, but, if they run together, when to announce it? Separate campaigns offer early advantages to court wider voting blocs and test more policy positions. But waiting risks escalating friendly fire past the point where primary supporters accept an opponent-turned-running-mate.
What should Trump and DeSantis do, and when should they do it?
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