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Questions about the constitutionality of putting two Florida residents on the ballot and a need to appeal to Rust Belt voters helped lead to former President Donald Trump picking U.S. Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, instead of U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., as his running mate, according to Trump’s son, Eric.
During a breakfast event Tuesday held by the Florida delegation to the Republican National Convention, Eric Trump described Vance’s policies as “directly in line with” the former president and said that Vance can attract Midwest voters.
“He’s got a lot of fire. He’s obviously incredibly well respected in the Rust Belt,” Eric Trump, chairman of the Florida delegation, said. “And the Rust Belt means a lot.” He added that, “if we lose Florida, guys, let me just tell you, it’s over, right? If we don’t win Florida by 15 points — and we will. And we absolutely will.” But it is the Rust Belt that “is incredibly important,” Eric Trump said.
Vance, who was selected Monday by Donald Trump, is expected to spend a large amount of time campaigning in states such as Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Minnesota.
“He knows those people. He speaks to them so well,” Eric Trump said. “So, I think that’s a very big component.”
Also, Eric Trump said that in Rubio’s case, having two Florida residents on the ticket would have “caused a real problem. It caused a constitutional problem.”
In laying out the process for the Electoral College, the 12th Amendment says the president and vice president “shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves.”
As a result, if Donald Trump wins Florida, the state’s 30 electors could vote for him for president but not for another Floridian as vice president.
But there is a precedent in which Rubio could have resigned from the Senate and picked a new home state.
In the 2000 election, Dick Cheney changed his residency from Texas to Wyoming when he became George W. Bush’s running mate.
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