Megyn Kelly said Wednesday that former President Trump should pick an “establishment” Republican like former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to be his running mate in the 2024 presidential election.
In an interview on NewsNation’s “Elizabeth Vargas Reports,” Kelly noted that Trump is “not that popular” among a significant share of the Republican base, pointing to his recent poor showing in the Indiana GOP presidential primary, where he got 78 percent of the vote, despite being the only candidate left in the race. Haley ended her campaign two months ago, but still got 22 percent.
“Well, you may not have heard that Trump is not that popular with a core segment of the Republican Party,” Kelly said, responding to the results of the Indiana primary returns.
She recognized Trump is unlikely to pick Haley or DeSantis — his chief opponents in the 2024 primary race — but she encouraged the former president to pick a vice presidential candidate with similar appeal.
“He should pick a running mate that will represent that faction of the party, that is not core MAGA, that’s a little bit more establishment,” Kelly said.
“That’s the truth about most Republicans now,” she continued. “While they would still vote for Trump, most are not core MAGA.”
Kelly said Trump “should get a DeSantis type” of candidate, adding, “I realize he is probably not going to pick Haley, but he should get somebody like that for his VP pick.”
The race to be Trump’s running mate has been heating up in recent weeks, as Trump has used the audition process to launch an army of surrogates flooding the airwaves to defend him and echo his talking points as he remains tied up in a Manhattan courtroom.
Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, has maintained a growing shortlist of potential vice presidential candidates that includes Sens. Tim Scott (S.C.), Marco Rubio (Fla.) and JD Vance (Ohio); North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders; and Reps. Elise Stefanik (N.Y.) and Byron Donalds (Fla.).
Haley and DeSantis are both absent from the list after a bitter primary battle. Haley did not endorse Trump when she suspended her campaign for president, and DeSantis gave a lukewarm endorsement of the former president.
“It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance,” the governor said in his speech ending his campaign. “While I have had disagreements with Donald Trump such as on the coronavirus pandemic and his elevation of Anthony Fauci, Trump is superior to the current incumbent Joe Biden. That is clear.”