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Marco Rubio Gaining Traction as Potential Trump Veep Pick: Report

“The list is long, and it's extremely early in any kind of process,” one adviser to the former president warned.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) is a serious contender to be former President Donald Trump’s running mate in the 2024 presidential race, six people familiar with the search told NBC News on Wednesday. He is far from the only name on Trump’s shortlist, however, with campaign sources telling Semafor earlier this week that at least two other senators—Tennessee’s Bill Hagerty and Arkansas’s Tom Cotton—are being tossed around as potential picks. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and Ben Carson are also in the mix, sources told NBC News. “The list is long, and it's extremely early in any kind of process,” a Trump adviser said. “No one has been directly reached out to yet, and I do not expect that for some time.” Rubio and Trump were onetime rivals, with both men jousting for the 2016 Republican nomination that the latter ultimately scored. But they have since made amends, with Rubio demurring when asked about potentially being named to the Trump ticket earlier this year. “We’re both from the same state, so that’s probably not going to work that way,” he told Fox News. But NBC reported Wednesday that one “scenario being discussed in Florida political circles” is Rubio hopping on the ticket after resigning his congressional seat and moving to another state.