As Trump narrows VP search, his short list is nearly all men

By Gram Slattery, Alexandra Ulmer and Nathan Layne

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - When the topic of Donald Trump's potential running mate arose at a Manhattan fundraiser last week, the Republican presidential candidate gave high marks to contenders including North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum and U.S. Senator Tim Scott.

Some of the wealthy donors said Trump should select former primary rival Nikki Haley as his No. 2. Ties between the two had soured over her having challenged him, but she had served as his loyal U.N. ambassador for two years while he was president.

Trump, 77, largely dismissed the idea and suggested the group move on, said two donors familiar with the interaction.

Trump had previously expressed an interest in choosing a woman as his running mate for the Nov. 5 election, and some allies urged him to do so with an eye toward boosting his standing among female voters.

Trump's standing with that important voting bloc was further muddled by his conviction last week in a New York trial where he was accused of covering up a payment meant to influence the 2016 election by silencing a porn star who alleged they had sex while he was married - a liaison he denies.

His current VP short list, however, is nearly all men, according to nine people who have talked with Trump or his team in recent weeks, including donors, lobbyists and campaign operatives.

Ohio U.S. Senator J.D. Vance and Florida U.S. Senator Marco Rubio have emerged as leading contenders for the vice presidential nod, said the nine people, who requested anonymity to recount private conversations.

Several of those people said Burgum and South Carolina's Scott remain in contention, while U.S. Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas and U.S. Representative Elise Stefanik of New York are dark horse contenders, two people said.

Trump's team has sent vetting materials to top contenders, according to three people with knowledge of the matter, a step first reported by NBC News. Rubio, Burgum and Stefanik are among those who received the materials, sources told Reuters.

Several sources emphasized the fluid nature of vice presidential deliberations, saying new names can quickly enter and exit the conversation.

Trump has said there is a "good chance" he will announce a running mate at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee in mid-July. His campaign declined to share specifics on the search.

"Anyone claiming to know who or when President Trump will choose his VP is lying, unless the person is named Donald J. Trump," Trump senior adviser Brian Hughes said.

All of the potential vice presidential contenders declined to comment or did not respond to requests for comment.

ALL-MALE TICKET?

Throughout his term in office and during his 2024 campaign, Trump has proven significantly more popular among men than women, a gender gap many in his orbit are eager to close. In a comment to NBC last September, Trump said he liked the "concept" of a woman running mate.

"Women will determine the outcome of this election. The only real solution for Trump is a woman," said a source briefed on the deliberations, who lamented how few women were being seriously considered.

Two people who recently spoke to Trump said he wants to have personal chemistry and the ability to get along with his possible VP.

They said the former president believes a No. 2 pick is more likely to hurt a candidacy than substantially help it. As a result, they said, he is looking for a steady operator rather than a potentially risky choice that could end up hurting his chances of taking back the White House from President Joe Biden.

Biden, a Democrat, is running again with Vice President Kamala Harris, the first woman to serve in that role.

Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, publicly broke with Trump over the then-president's role in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and has said he will not endorse his former boss in the upcoming election.

Some of the women Trump had considered for the Republican ticket this time have made missteps that took them largely out of contention, according to the conversations with the nine people in contact with Trump or his advisers.

Kristi Noem, the governor of South Dakota, was widely criticized after she disclosed in an autobiography that she had killed a dog over obedience issues. Critics of Alabama U.S. Senator Katie Britt said her televised response to Biden's State of the Union address appeared over-rehearsed and tonally uneven.

Neither Noem nor Britt responded to requests for a comment.

While many campaign financiers have pushed Trump to select Haley, a more traditional conservative who has longstanding ties with the donor community, other advisers have pushed back publicly, including the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., who one source said was partial to Vance.

Haley is one of the few high-profile Republicans to remain silent after Trump was found guilty last week. She was Trump's last rival in a contentious Republican primary but in May said she would vote for him in November.

(Reporting by Gram Slattery in Washington, Alexandra Ulmer in San Francisco and Nathan Layne in Wilton, Conn.; Additional reporting by Steve Holland and Tim Reid in Washington; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Howard Goller)