Trump’s VP Pick Mystery Intensifies: New Frontrunner Takes The Lead

So, amidst all the buzz, everyone’s eyes are on Trump as he gets ready to reveal his running mate for the upcoming presidential race.

Some advisors are admitting they’re in the dark, hinting that maybe he hasn’t made up his mind yet.

This only adds to the suspense around the announcement.

Now, the Ohio Senator, JD Vance, has seen a sudden and dramatic rise in his odds of becoming Trump’s VP pick.

His odds have shot up by almost 300%.

That puts him in the lead with a 31% chance of being selected and ahead of the other potential candidates.

Still, it all comes down to who meant to be picked by Trump.

JD Vance's odds to be Trump's VP just shot up nearly 300%

He's now the favorite with a 31% chance. pic.twitter.com/RqIyXnanVY

— Polymarket (@Polymarket) July 8, 2024

MSN reports:

JD Vance, who gained national attention just eight years ago with his “Hillbilly Elegy” memoir of growing up in Rust Belt poverty, is the next-generation populist leader in the top tier of Donald Trump’s potential running mates.

The US senator from Ohio is perhaps more closely aligned with the former president than any other candidate on Trump’s vice presidential shortlist. Selection would position Vance to be the standard-bearer of Trumpism after Trump and a favorite for the Republican presidential nomination in 2028.

“He is a younger and more articulate version of Trump,” Republican pollster Frank Luntz said of Vance, who at 39 years old is the second-youngest member of the Senate.

Vance appeals to the working-class voters who may previously have been Democrats but shifted parties to back Trump, said Alex Triantafilou, chairman of the Ohio Republican Party. Vance’s upbringing helps him to connect to the economic struggles of those voters in the crucial Rust Belt swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, he said.

“He literally wrote the book on this moment in history,” Triantafilou said.

Republican Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas called Vance “a rising superstar” who is able to reach out to younger voters and suburban women in a way “maybe that somebody with gray hair wouldn’t quite as effectively.”

Vance has gone up against his party and Wall Street by working with Democrats Sherrod Brown on seeking stronger safety regulations for railroads after the 2023 disaster in East Palestine, Ohio; Elizabeth Warren and Brown on clawing back the pay of bank executives whose institutions fail; and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin on forcing more competition in the credit card industry.

The Ohio senator has been perhaps the loudest opponent in the Senate of aiding Ukraine in its war with Russia, putting him at odds with congressional party leaders and Republicans’ powerful strong-defense wing.

Vance hasn’t won any of those fights. His railroad and credit card competition bills are stalled amid establishment Republican opposition, and military aid to Ukraine ultimately was approved.

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Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, a supporter of Ukraine, praised Vance as a bright and personable senator who wouldn’t be divisive within the ideologically fractious party.

“He’s a reasonable guy, he’s got a great sense of humor,” Tillis said.

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