2012 Republican Party vice presidential candidate selection

2012 Republican vice presidential nomination

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v t e

This article lists possible candidates for the Republican nomination for Vice President of the United States in the 2012 election. On May 29, 2012, former Governor Mitt Romney of Massachusetts won the 2012 Republican nomination for President of the United States, and became the presumptive nominee.^[1][2]

On August 11, 2012, Romney officially announced his selection of Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan as his running-mate to supporters via an iPhone app, though the selection of Ryan had already leaked to the press hours before the official announcement.^[3] Ryan was the first individual from Wisconsin to appear on a major party's national ticket, although third-party presidential candidate Robert M. La Follette won 16% of the popular vote in the 1924 election.^[4] The Romney–Ryan ticket ultimately lost in the general election to the Obama–Biden ticket, but the defeat did not harm either of their careers; from 2015 to 2019, Ryan served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives while Romney, having moved to Utah, has been in the United States Senate since 2019.

Selection process

Romney asked Beth Meyers, an aide, to head up the search team for selecting a vice presidential candidate.^[5] It was speculated that Romney might announce his running mate in July to create early enthusiasm and boost fundraising,^[6] but this proved untrue. Romney stated that he would select a pro-life vice presidential candidate.^[7]

Political analyst Larry Sabato stated that Romney could pick a vice presidential running mate that would help electorally such as by delivering a swing state or a demographic group.^[8][9] Romney's associates suggested the VP pick was likely to be someone mild-mannered with high integrity and have a similar aptitude for analysis.^[10]

Short list

According to the book Double Down, Romney's campaign narrowed down his list of potential nominees for vice president to eleven individuals in April 2012:^[11]

• 
  Senator
  Kelly Ayotte
  from New Hampshire
  (2011–2017)
• 
  Governor
  Chris Christie
  from New Jersey
  (2010–2018)
• 
  Senator
  John Cornyn
  from Texas
  (2002–present)
• 
  Governor
  Mitch Daniels
  from Indiana
  (2005–2013)
• 
  Former Senator
  Bill Frist
  from Tennessee
  (1995–2007)
• 
  Former Governor
  Mike Huckabee
  from Arkansas
  (1996–2007)
• 
  Governor
  Bob McDonnell
  from Virginia
  (2010–2014)
• 
  Former Governor
  Tim Pawlenty
  from Minnesota
  (2003–2011)
• 
  Senator
  Rob Portman
  from Ohio
  (2011–2023)
• 
  Senator
  Marco Rubio
  from Florida
  (2011–present)
• 
  Representative
  Paul Ryan
  from Wisconsin
  (1999–2019)

The list was later further narrowed down to five individuals: Christie, Pawlenty, Portman, Rubio, and Ryan.^[12] According to Double Down, many on Romney's campaign favored Ryan because he was "young, telegenic, Irish Catholic, with blue collar appeal," and could potentially help the campaign in his competitive home state. Romney also personally liked Ryan and felt comfortable campaigning with him. Christie was also strongly considered, but the vetting process raised several issues.^[11]

The announcement

Having returned from his overseas tour of the United Kingdom, Israel, and Poland, Romney planned a bus tour of Virginia, North Carolina, and Florida with his then-yet to be announced running mate.^{[citation needed]} It was possible that Romney could have chosen to stall his announcement until at least August 12, the last day of the Summer Olympics, in order to attract greater media and voter attention while still allowing time for campaigning and fundraising before the Republican National Convention, which would begin on August 27.^[13]

On August 10, 2012, it was announced that Romney would introduce his running mate on August 11, 2012, in Norfolk, Virginia, after touring the USS Wisconsin,^{[14][15][16][17]} leading several news sources to speculate that his choice would be U.S. Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin.^[18] Shortly after 7 a.m. on August 11, the Romney campaign officially announced Ryan as its choice for vice president through its mobile app titled "Mitt's VP".^[19]

Media speculation on possible vice presidential candidates

Political analyst Larry Sabato stated that Romney could pick a vice presidential running mate that would help electorally such as by delivering a swing state or a demographic group.^[8][9] Romney's associates suggested the VP pick was likely to be someone mild-mannered with high integrity and have a similar aptitude for analysis.^[10] Media speculation and analysis on vice presidential picks included:

U.S. senators

• 
  Kelly Ayotte
  of New Hampshire^[20]
• 
  Jim DeMint
  of South Carolina^[21][22]
• 
  Rand Paul
  of Kentucky^[23][24]
• 
  Rob Portman
  of Ohio^[25][26][27]
• 
  Marco Rubio
  of Florida^[28][29]
• 
  John Thune
  of South Dakota^[30]
• 
  Pat Toomey
  of Pennsylvania^[31]

U.S. representatives

• 
  Paul Ryan
  of Wisconsin^[32]

Governors

• 
  Chris Christie
  of New Jersey^[33][34]
• 
  Nikki Haley
  of South Carolina^[35]
• 
  Bobby Jindal
  of Louisiana^[36]
• 
  John Kasich
  of Ohio^[37]
• 
  Susana Martinez
  of New Mexico^[38]
• 
  Bob McDonnell
  of Virginia^[39]
• 
  Brian Sandoval
  of Nevada^[40]
• 
  Rick Snyder
  of Michigan^{[41][42][43][44]}

Former U.S. senators

• 
  Rick Santorum
  of Pennsylvania^[45]

Former governors

• 
  Jeb Bush
  of Florida^[46]
• 
  Tim Pawlenty
  of Minnesota^[46]

Others

• 
  Retired general, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency
  David Petraeus
  ^[47]
• 
  Businessman
  Donald Trump
  of New York^[48][49][50]

See also

• Mitt Romney 2012 presidential campaign
• 2012 Republican Party presidential candidates
• 2012 Republican Party presidential primaries
• 2012 Republican National Convention
• 2012 United States presidential election
• List of United States major party presidential tickets

References

External links

• The Romney campaign site Archived September 20, 2012, at the Wayback Machine

This page was last edited on 29 March 2024, at 16:22