Who will Donald Trump choose as his vice president?

The competition for President Donald Trump's running mate is heating up.

Trump has teased the crowd with a long list of candidates. But if tradition is to be believed, we still have many months to know his choice.

Former Vice President Mike Pence will not be elected. The two sides are at odds over the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, and Pence has no intention of voting for his former boss in November.

Here's a look at the names rumored to be among them.

Sen. Tim Scott, perhaps the most prominent black Republican in the country, was one of the competitors Trump lost in the party's primary.

Mr. Scott, 58, pitched his brand of optimistic conservatism in hopes of courting the powerful evangelical Christian vote in early-voting states, but his campaign never caught on.

After struggling to raise money and giving a lackluster performance in three debates, he resigned and quickly endorsed Trump.

It was his passionate remarks at a Trump campaign rally before the New Hampshire primary that made him a front-runner for vice president.

“We need Donald Trump,” he said before taking the stage to give the Republican victory speech.

Since then, Trump has repeatedly said Scott is “much better.” [at advocating] He is more to me than himself. ”

Trump's other major opponent, Doug Burgum, 67, is in his second term as governor of North Dakota.

Mr. Burgum had little influence as a presidential candidate, but returned to the race by announcing his support for Mr. Trump.

The social conservative and fiscal hawk said he would never do business with Trump because in 2023 “you will be judged by the company you continue to work with.”

Mr. Burgum began his career at a small software startup that was later acquired by Microsoft, and through years of entrepreneurship built a billionaire fortune.

He reportedly impressed Trump with his low-key demeanor and political know-how, which led to Pence's selection in 2016.

Elise Stefanik, 39, is a New York state representative and the highest-ranking Republican woman in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The once-moderate Trump-reluctant Republican has moved to the right in recent years and is now widely considered one of Trump's staunchest defenders on Capitol Hill, leading to his first impeachment trial in 2020. But I joined the defense.

She said she would be “honored” to serve in the Trump administration “in any capacity.”

Trump and Marco Rubio were unsuccessful in the 2016 Republican primary. Trump called him “Little Marco” because of his height, and Rubio commented on Trump's small hands.

The Florida senator has since worked closely with his former rival, endorsing him early in this year's primary season.

Mr. Rubio, the son of working-class Cuban immigrants, was once floated as a running mate to Republican candidate Mitt Romney in 2012.

He is still relatively young at 52 and telegenic, which could help Trump win a larger share of the Latino vote.

J.D. Vance, 39, a junior senator from Ohio, has endorsed Trump several times in recent months.

The Yale-educated former venture capitalist wrote the best-selling book Hillbilly Elegy, a memoir tracing his blue-collar upbringing in the Midwestern “Rust Belt.”

Mr. Vance, who once declared himself “no Trumper,'' has reinvented himself by running for the Senate in 2022 with Mr. Trump's decisive support.

During his time in office, he has championed many of the issues that energize Trump's base.

Vance believes he would be more useful to a future Trump administration in the Senate, but he hasn't ruled out the possibility of becoming vice president.

“I want to help him as much as I can,” he said recently.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem once topped a poll of mostly Trump supporters on who should be their vice president.

Noem, 52, gained national fame for appearing on Fox News and flouting mask mandates and other restrictions, especially during the pandemic.

Her star was on the rise by the time her memoir was published in 2024. In her memoir, she tells how she “hated” and then shot her 14-month-old dog because it was not suitable for hunting. She said cricket was “untrainable” and “dangerous”.

She also shot a goat that she thought was “mean” and “mean.”

The story drew near-universal condemnation and may have all but eliminated her chances of becoming vice president.

Byron Donald, 45, helped raise the profile of black conservatism.

Donald was born in New York to a single mother and worked in banking, insurance and finance before entering local politics in Florida in 2012.

After four years in the Florida House of Representatives, he has been serving in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2020, representing the right wing of his party in Washington.

Asked in November whether he would accept the role of vice president in President Trump's second term, he said, “I mean, who wouldn't?”

As a Democrat, she became the first Hindu member of the US Congress. Currently, Tulsi Gabbard may be the biggest dark horse on Trump's shortlist.

Ten years ago, the Iraq war veteran and U.S. Army reservist served as vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee until he resigned to support Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential race.

Her tenure in Congress, from 2013 to 2021, was marked by frequent criticism of the Obama administration and U.S. military interventionism.

She ran in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary, most notably criticizing now-Vice President Kamala Harris over her past as a California prosecutor.

Gabbard, 42, has since stepped up her contributions to Fox News and announced that she will leave the Democratic Party in 2022.

The Washington Post reported earlier this month that Trump discussed foreign policy and the running of the Pentagon with Gabbard, an outspoken critic of aid to Ukraine.