Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a 2024 presidential candidate, said on Sunday that he would not serve as President Trump’s vice president if the former president asked him to be his running mate.
“No, I’m running for president,” DeSantis said in an interview on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures,” when asked whether he would accept a theoretical offer.
“We need somebody that can serve two terms. We need somebody that can win states like Georgia and Arizona, which President Trump cannot do or did not do, even though candidates like McCain and Romney had no problem winning those states,” DeSantis continued, referring to the 2008 and 2012 GOP presidential nominees.
DeSantis’s comments come in response to Trump’s recent jab at the other GOP presidential candidates, among whom Trump said he did not see a potential running mate.
“They’re all job candidates,” Trump said on Wednesday about his fellow GOP candidates, in a clip played before the interview. “They’ll do anything, secretary of something. They even say VP. I don’t know. Does anybody see any VP in the group? I don’t think so.”
Trump has consistently led the 2024 GOP presidential candidate pool in national polls by a double-digit margin. DeSantis has seen his support waning in recent months since polls had him as a viable second-place candidate to Trump.