2 Florida men, 1 ticket? A Trump, Rubio pairing brings tricky political, legal questions

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio once called Donald Trump a “con artist” too “dangerous” and “erratic” to be entrusted with nuclear codes. But in a few months, Rubio could be calling Trump something else: his running mate.

The Florida Republican was one of a few people on Trump’s vice presidential shortlist who attended a fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago earlier this month, along with fellow GOP senators J.D. Vance of Ohio and Tim Scott of South Carolina.

Rubio apparently is being considered despite the intense criticism Rubio leveled at Trump in 2016 and in spite of the U.S. Constitution itself, which would not allow Florida’s 30 presidential electors to vote for both a president and vice president from the same state.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, who met with Trump last month, reportedly is still a VP contender despite his criticism of Trump during the GOP primary campaign.

The bad blood between them is more recent than with Rubio. But Bob Jarvis, a law professor at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, said Rubio’s clashes with Trump were more personal.

He quoted a 2016 Rubio swipe at Trump, in which Rubio joked, “You know what they say about men with small hands.”

“Did his hands grow since 2016?” Jarvis said. “I don’t think so. I really do think a lot of what Trump is talking about when he’s talking about people like Rubio and DeSantis is just to get newspaper stories. I don’t think it has anything to do with reality.”

‘Sheer ambition’

After largely avoiding going after Trump during the early stages of the 2016 presidential race, Rubio made a last-minute strategy to become one of Trump’s biggest critics.

He called Trump “the most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency” and said Trump “has spent his entire career sticking it to the little guy.”

“Friends do not let friends vote for con artists,” Rubio said.

Trump to rally for Marco Rubio in Miami, but no mention of DeSantis

But that all changed after Trump won, with Rubio becoming one of Trump’s most loyal defenders. They’ve appeared together at several rallies, and Rubio voted against both of Trump’s impeachments and a bipartisan commission to investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol by a pro-Trump mob.

Gregory Koger, a professor of political science at the University of Miami, said it’s easy to see why Rubio wants to be on the ticket with Trump. Trump’s running mate, win or lose, would be set up for a presidential run themselves in 2028.

“Is it sheer ambition?” Koger said. “Let’s say for the sake of discussion that he actually meant what he said in 2016. He’d be getting into bed with somebody who he thinks is completely incompetent and a danger to the country. … I think it just sets up the Democratic campaign ads of them saying really negative things about each other.”

It’s not uncommon for former foes to come together on a ticket, Jarvis said, with Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush in 1980 and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in 2020 having clashed in their primaries. As for why Rubio would join with Trump, he took a more “cynical” view.

“Look at Trump,” Jarvis said. “He’s 77 years old. He has a terrible diet. He’s in terrible physical shape. And you sit there and you go, ‘Yeah, this guy could die. I could become president.’ So there are lots of reasons why Rubio would accept.”

For Trump, Rubio checks off several boxes, Koger said.

Rubio would bring years of foreign policy experience, conservative Tea Party bona fides, relative youth with his 53rd birthday later this month, and he is the only Hispanic candidate being considered.

“He has all that,” Koger said. “He’d solidify Trump’s ties to the traditional Republican base and to Republican voters who are turned off by everything about him.”

‘Technical glitch’

The biggest hurdle for a Trump/Rubio ticket may be the Constitution itself.

Article II, Section 1 states that presidential electors “shall meet in their respective States, and vote by Ballot for two Persons, of whom one at least shall not be an Inhabitant of the same State with themselves.”

The clause is not a “general prohibition” on two people from the same state actually serving as president and vice president, Koger said. In the instance of a Trump ticket with Rubio or DeSantis, “it’s specifically about Florida’s electors. They couldn’t vote for both Florida men.”

Jarvis agreed, saying much of the speculation about the clause “has gotten that completely wrong.”

All one of them has to do, they said, is switch their state residency before the Electoral College meets on Dec. 16. The bigger question, though, is which one would have to do it.

The clause was never really an issue until 2000, when Texas Gov. George W. Bush chose Dallas resident Dick Cheney as his running mate. Cheney, the CEO of Halliburton, retired and switched his residency to his former home of Wyoming without much fuss.

But Rubio is a U.S. senator who constitutionally must be a resident of Florida, meaning that if he leaves the state, he presumably leaves the Senate.

“Logistically, it’d be easier if Donald Trump switched his residency,” Koger said. “He’s got multiple residences, and he’s not in office right now.”

But Trump, who switched his residency to Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach in 2019, probably doesn’t want to move to one of his other homes in New York or New Jersey, he said. They both have state income taxes, unlike Florida, and he’s also on trial in New York.

“Realistically, I don’t think Trump would do that to accommodate another human being,” Koger said. “So Rubio is the one who’d have to move.”

Jarvis said Rubio could wait and see what happens in November before making a final decision.

“He doesn’t have to do anything if they lose,” Jarvis said. And it’s all academic if they win … since he’s going to live in [Washington] D.C. for the next four years.”

Rubio himself has only alluded to the possibility. Asked this month by Fox News host Shannon Bream about the “technical glitch” of state residency in the Constitution, Rubio referenced Trump’s legal woes.

“I think that before anyone decides to move from their state, you better make sure you don’t move to a state where there’s not some [district attorney] that makes a career after going after Republicans,” Rubio said.

As for DeSantis having to resign and move from Tallahassee if picked by Trump, Jarvis didn’t think he had to worry.

“DeSantis has proven he’s a terrible fundraiser, he’s terrible on the stump, and voters simply don’t like him,” Jarvis said. “He went to every county in Iowa, and in every county in Iowa, they said, ‘Go back to Florida.’”