Florida will once again be front and center in a presidential election come November as the largest swing state.
Despite its prominent role in recent presidential elections, politicians from Florida have never been included on a major party’s ticket. Even though Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio stumbled in their pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination, leaders from Florida could end up on the tickets this year as running mates for likely nominees Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.
On Friday, Chris Cillizza from the Washington Post released his top five most likely candidates to end up as Trump’s running mate and two hailed from Florida. Despite Rubio and Trump lobbing attacks against each other earlier in the campaign cycle, Cillizza included the Florida senator on the list. Rubio has said he has no interest in being on the ticket.
“Yes, there was that whole ‘Little Marco’ thing,” Cillizza wrote. “But if Ben Carson can make peace with Trump, then anything can happen. Rubio is clearly in search of a next step in his political career, and while most insiders raise questions about whether he would accept the vice-presidential nomination, it's still hard for me to imagine anyone turning it down. Rubio could help Trump with outreach to establishment Republicans and in Florida. As a Cuban American, he also might be able to blunt some of Trump's sharpest edges on immigration and avoid an electoral disaster in the Hispanic community.”
Cillizza also included Rick Scott on the list in the second spot behind Chris Christie. Scott endorsed Trump the day after the Florida primary but even before that praised the Republican hopeful.
“The Florida governor wrote a Facebook post Wednesday urging the party to rally behind Trump,” Cillizza noted. “‘The Republican leaders in Washington did not choose him, but the Republican voters across America did choose him,’ Scott wrote. ‘The voters have spoken.’ Scott has been consistently supportive of Trump for months now, endorsing him as soon as the real estate billionaire won the Sunshine State in early March. Scott's profile is also likely appealing to Trump -- a wealthy businessman who ran and beat the Republican establishment to get elected governor. Plus, he's from a big swing state.”
Cillizza did not include any politician from the Sunshine State when he looked at Clinton’s potential running mates. But there has been one Florida Democrat stirring up vice presidential talk: Bill Nelson. Last month, the New York Times reported Nelson was a possibility for Clinton.
“She knows that if she chooses a younger and ambitious vice president, she will have someone by her side who may be making calculations with an eye toward running for the presidency in 2024,” the Times reported about Clinton. “The past two vice presidents, Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Dick Cheney, were widely seen as devoted to their jobs; they appreciated and sought power, but given their ages, they were not determined to seek their bosses’ job in the future. Mrs. Clinton, 68, likes that fact, Democrats say, and has to decide if she wants a rising star or a seasoned hand who is not interested in the presidency, like Bill Nelson, 73, a senator from another key state, Florida.”
At an event at Cumberland University last week, Nelson avoided questions about ending up as Clinton’s running mate.
