In a private audition with GOP donors, Trump's minority VP prospects downplay race

PALM BEACH, Florida – Sen. Tim Scott said the GOP doesn’t need a 2024 campaign message tailored to Black voters, while Sen. Marco Rubio delivered a similar message about Hispanic voters and immigration to a group of GOP donors gathered at a closed-door event in South Florida on Friday.

Both Scott, who is Black, and Rubio, who is Hispanic, are top minority leaders in the Republican Party who are on presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s short list of possible running mates.

They are viewed as leading vice presidential contenders, in part, because of their potential appeal to demographics the GOP has struggled with. If picked by Trump, either senator would make history paired this November against Vice President Kamala Harris, herself the first woman and Asian American to hold the office.

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Yet both Rubio and Scott downplayed the role that race would play in the presidential campaign to the group of GOP donors Friday, according to three people who were in the private event and spoke with USA Today. The senators’ remarks show how emphasizing race or gender can be a fraught issue within a party that has long skewed older, whiter and male and often talks about prioritizing merit over identity.

The Republican National Committee hosted the spring retreat for major donors over the weekend at the Four Seasons oceanside luxury hotel in Palm Beach, which is located a few miles north of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago private club and personal residence. The event drew some of the party’s top elected leaders, many of whom are believed to be on Trump’s list of potential running mates.

The weekend was an audition of sorts for the vice presidential contenders.

In addition to Scott and Rubio, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds, New York Rep. Elise Stefanik and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem spoke to donors and mingled with them throughout the weekend. All are considered potential Trump running mates.

Some Republicans in and out of Trump’s orbit say they believe it would be a good political move for the former president to pick a woman or among the men with diverse backgrounds as a way to balance out the Republican ticket as it challenges President Joe Biden and Harris.

Polls show Trump has made inroads with Black and Hispanic voters, and choosing a running mate who might appeal to these demographics could help cement those gains. A female candidate could help Trump’s message to voters on abortion, an issue that has bedeviled his campaign.

“I’ve always been an advocate of a woman as a VP because I think you have some strong women,” Steve Bannon, who served as chief strategist in Trump’s White House, said recently on Donald Trump Jr’s show “Triggered.”

Rally goers, 45th President Donald Trump and Marco Rubio are seen at the Save America Rally at the Miami Dade County Fair and Expo in Miami on Sunday November 6, 2022. ORG XMIT: 2634540 (Via OlyDrop)

GOP leery of identity politics

But many in the party are leery of picking a candidate solely for a quality like race or gender, and both Scott and Rubio seemed to tread carefully around the issue over the weekend, according to the three people at the donor event who spoke with USA Today.

The senators spoke at a welcome dinner Friday that included three of their fellow Republican colleagues from the U.S. Capitol, Sens. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Mike Lee of Utah and Rick Scott of Florida.

RNC Chairman Michael Whatley asked the group questions, including this inquiry posed directly to Tim Scott: “We’re doing much better with Black and Hispanic voters. What do you recommend that we do to expand on this trend?” said Richard Porter, a GOP donor, attorney and Republican national committeeman from Illinois.

“Tim’s response was: ‘We need to recognize that we don’t need a ‘Black message,” or a ‘Hispanic message.’ We need to have an American message and then take that message to people all across the country,” Porter added.

That message resonated with Porter, a member of the RNC since 2014.

“That’s who Tim is. He hasn’t succeeded by being the Black candidate, he’s succeeded by being an American candidate, a guy that advocates for everyone who tries to lift themselves up by their own bootstraps,” Porter said.

Rubio delivered a similar message but in a different way, Porter said.

In speaking about illegal immigration and how Hispanics view the issue, Rubio said Democrats don’t understand the range of views among Hispanic voters.

“They misread Hispanics voters — they do not support open borders” Porter said of Rubio’s comments. “In fact, open border immigration angers many Hispanics voters because they are people building families and this issue impacts their families, their schools, their communities and their job opportunities.”

Rubio invoked his father, a Cuban immigrant.

“He said, ‘For example, my dad didn’t look in the mirror and see a ‘Hispanic man.’ He saw a father, a man with responsibilities to his family and a job in a hotel like this working events like this one,’” Porter said of Rubio’s comments.

Columbia, South Carolina | Republican presidential candidate and former President Donald Trump greets supporters during an election night watch party at the State Fairgrounds on Feb. 24, 2024 in Columbia, S.C. Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), applauding to Trump’s left, endorsed the former president for another four-year term on Jan. 19.

Contrast with Democrats

That type of messaging contrasts with Democrats, who often explicitly seek to include minorities and women.

Many Democrats pushed Biden to pick a Black woman as his running mate in 2020, and he ultimately selected Harris.

The GOP has rebelled against that view, crusading in recent years against diversity, equity and inclusion policies in schools and businesses. The sensitivity around DEI may help explain why Scott and Rubio are eager to downplay race.

“I don’t think people would be selected because they’re a minority, I think that they’ll be selected because they’re the right one for this role,” said Van Mobley, a GOP donor and Wisconsin activist who was attending the RNC retreat.

Chuck Strauch, a major GOP donor from South Carolina who served as CEO of various public companies, also attended the dinner with Rubio and Scott and confirmed their comments on race.

Scott said “It doesn’t make any difference whether I’m Black or white, I’m an American,” according to Strauch.

Instead of emphasizing race, GOP leaders argue their economic message will resonate among voters across all demographics and is the reason working class voters have increasingly gravitated to Trump, including Black and Hispanic voters.

“That was Tim Scott’s point of view, we are not gonna win unless we appeal to the things that make sense to the ordinary people, the working class, the blue collar worker,” Strauch said.

Rubio is confident Trump will win a good portion of the Hispanic vote, Strauch said.

“His point is that he thinks… the Democrats have taken that segment of the population for granted, as they have perhaps for Blacks, that was his message,” Strauch said.

WASHINGTON, DC – DECEMBER 16: (L-R) Governor of South Dakota Kristi Noem speaks as U.S. President Donald Trump listens during a meeting about the Governors Initiative on Regulatory Innovation in the Cabinet Room of the White House on December 16, 2019 in Washington, DC. President Trump encouraged further action to reduce unnecessary regulations that the administration says are holding back American businesses. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

‘What I’m interested in is leadership’

Being a minority shouldn’t matter in whether a candidate is selected to be Trump’s running mate, Strauch said, although he conceded “it does with some people.”

“There’s definitely merit, I don’t have to agree with it but the point is that there is merit to it,” Stauch said of having a minority running mate, adding that when it comes to picking a vice president “What I’m interested in is leadership.”

Burgum and Noem spoke to GOP donors during a breakfast event Saturday.

Noem has been under fire for writing in a recently-released book that she killed a 14-month-old pet dog.

“The dog thing didn’t come up,” Strauch said. “She was in a friendly audience.”

Strauch said he believes Noem’s revelations about killing her dog likely took her out of the running to be Trump’s running mate.

Bannon and Trump Jr. questioned Noem’s judgement on Trump Jr’s show last week.

“It probably has taken her out of the race, you know a lot of people don’t like shooting dogs,” Strauch said.

Burgum talked about economic issues such as deregulation and tax cuts.

Approached by USA TODAY while he was walking to a car waiting to transport him to Mar-a-Lago for a lunch event with Trump Saturday, Scott declined an interview through an aide.

Vance told USA TODAY “I have no idea if I am on the short list” to be Trump’s running mate and added “I want to help Trump out wherever I can.”

Rubio, who faced blistering personal attacks from Trump during the 2016 Republican primaries and soon after made amends, spoke briefly with USA TODAY before Friday’s dinner. The 52-year old senator said he hasn’t had conversations with the Trump campaign about serving as vice president.

“I’m interested in serving America but I’ve never talked to anybody about it except for reporters,” Rubio said.

The RNC spring retreat also included a welcome reception Friday with House Speaker Mike Johnson and Stefanik and an update on the presidential race from top Trump campaign aides Chris LaCivita, Susie Wiles and Tony Fabrizio, who talked about fundraising and polling in various states, according to multiple media reports

The aides said Trump’s campaign raised $76.2 million in April, the New York Times reported, and that they believe Minnesota and Virginia are in play, according to NBC.

The luncheon with Trump on Saturday featured Donalds, former 2024 GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas. A Saturday evening “soiree” is planned with Vance and three leading Republican candidates for U.S. Senate seats this November: Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania and Bernie Moreno of Ohio, according to a schedule obtained by USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: In a private audition with GOP donors, Trump’s minority VP prospects downplay race