Former President Donald Trump has selected Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate, Trump announced on social media Monday.
Among other potential contenders were Florida Senator Marco Rubio and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.
Rubio has been a committed supporter and advocate for Trump in recent months despite previously criticizing Trump as a “con man” and unfit for the presidency.
Similarly, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, who awaited news at a hotel near the convention center, received a call from campaign advisor Susie Wiles informing him that he was not chosen as Trump’s running mate.
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Vance has also criticized Trump in the past, declaring in a 2016 interview with Charlie Rose: “I’m a Never Trump guy. I never liked him.”
A clip of the interview has been widely shared on social media.
In other interviews and since-deleted tweets from that period, Vance echoed similar sentiments, openly supporting Hillary Clinton and labeling Trump as “noxious” and “reprehensible.”
The Republican National Convention commenced in Milwaukee on Monday, just two days after an attempted assassination of Trump at a Pennsylvania rally on Saturday evening.
Despite the incident, the convention, expected to draw over 50,000 attendees and 2,400 Republican delegates, proceeded as scheduled, aiming to unite the party and fueled by Trump’s survival and defiant stance.
