Donald Trump‘s ritzy fundraiser in Palm Beach, Fla., this weekend will double as an audition for several contenders to be his vice presidential nominee.
Why it matters: The months-long shadow campaign to become Trump’s running mate in the race for the White House is moving into the light.
Driving the news: Trump is gathering hundreds of donors and prominent GOP lawmakers at Mar-a-Lago that will be the first large, in-person gathering of several potential VP picks, who’ll be closely scrutinized by donors and Trump’s team.
Those VP contenders include Sens. Marco Rubio of Florida, J.D. Vance of Ohio and Tim Scott of South Carolina, Reps. Elise Stefanik of New York and Byron Donalds of Florida and Govs. Doug Burgum of North Dakota and Kristi Noem of South Dakota.
Between the lines: The gathering follows months of positioning by all the potential candidates — frequently as guests of cable news shows that Trump watches.
- Vance, Rubio and Stefanik in particular have made a point of appearing on more mainstream outlets such as CNN and ABC to face more adversarial questions than they typically would get on more friendly venues such as Fox News and NewsMax.
- Vance especially has impressed people close to Trump — including his son Donald Trump Jr., who counts Vance as a friend — by his defense of the ex-president, including in an interview with CNN this week.
- Most also have made clear they believe former Vice President Mike Pence was wrong in not trying to help Trump overturn the results of the 2020 election when Congress met to certify President Biden’s victory on Jan. 6, 2021.
