NORFOLK, Va. — As speculation grows about who Donald Trump will pick as his running mate in the 2024 presidential election, one name from the Old Dominion is creating some chatter.
The former president and presumptive Republican nominee praised Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin as a possible vice president pick in comments made to Fox News reporter Aishah Hasnie.
"He's great," Trump told Hasnie when asked if he liked Youngkin as vice president. "And I think I could consider that. Yes. I haven't, I haven't been asked that question, but he would be on that list. He's very good. We had a great meeting about Virginia."
Trump's comments appear to be a burying of the hatchet after the former president took to his social media platform Truth Social in 2022 to attack Youngkin with a racist remark, claiming Youngkin couldn't have won the 2021 gubernatorial race without his help.
This comes after the two Republicans met Wednesday in northern Virginia. On Thursday, Youngkin confirmed to 13News Now the meeting was about strategy on how Trump can win Virginia in November.
"With all of the polls that have come out that have demonstrated that Virginia is competitive at the presidential level, and particularly with regards to Joe Biden winning the state by 10 points four years ago, there's a lot of interest in how this election is going to go," Youngkin told 13News Now.
He continued: "We talked about Virginia and how I was able to win my election in 2021 and the lessons learned."
Trump was first elected to the presidency in 2016 but lost re-election to Joe Biden in 2020. He recently became the first former U.S. president to be convicted of felony charges and faces three other criminal cases that have yet to be tried.
With five months to Election Day, a recent poll from Roanoke College shows a tight race between Trump and Biden, with both candidates getting 42% in Virginia.
Virginia has long swung between Republican and Democrat, but the state hasn't gone for a GOP presidential candidate since the 2004 election, and political forecasters such as Sabato's Crystal Ball believe the same will happen this year.
Trump selecting Youngkin as his 2024 running mate would mirror his 2016 Democratic opponent Hillary Clinton's strategy of picking Virginia U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine to boost her chances in the state. The pick would also secure a political future for Youngkin, who is ineligible to run for a second term as Virginia's governor in 2025.
Despite the speculation, Youngkin was not listed as one of the potential vice presidential contenders whom Trump's campaign requested information from, according to a recent ABC News report. Possible running mates being vetted include North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and J.D. Vance.
Additionally, Trump told Fox News that his running mate pick was probably in the room with him when he met with congressional Republicans on Capitol Hill Thursday.
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13News Now has reached out to Youngkin's office for a statement on Trump's comments but didn't get a response by the time this article was published.