Karl Rove Endorses Doug Burgum for Vice President

Karl Rove endorsed North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum for former President Donald Trump’s running mate, making the remark on Thursday, days ahead of the Republican National Convention taking place in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Trump has yet to officially announce his choice for vice president and is expected to make that announcement any day now. However, there has been chatter with a few names continually surfacing, including Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance and Burgum. As for Karl Rove, he believes Burgum is the correct choice.

Of the three names mentioned, “Doug Burgum is not only the safe pick, but also gives him some advantage in that he’s got a successful governor, who’s the governor of the second-largest energy producing state in the union,” Rove explained.

“If you want to make energy an issue in the campaign, who better than that? But I’m with Josh. I think we’re — we got to think about Donald Trump as not just simply the former president and potentially future president the United States, but the executive producer of The Apprentice,” he said, explaining there “may be a couple of twists and turns before this thing is all done.”

His remarks come as all eyes largely move to Sen. Vance, particularly following the news that Donald Trump Jr. is slated to speak right before Trump’s running mate at the convention on Wednesday. It is widely known that Don Jr. is friends with Vance and has openly stated that the senator is his top choice for his father’s running mate.

“If we’re talking the VP stakes, what are you guys thinking right now?” Don Jr. asked during a recent episode of his podcast, Triggered. “You know, everyone knows, I’ve sort of been for J.D. Vance.”

He also shared a clip of Vance speaking recently, encouraging people to watch it.

“Stop what you’re doing and watch this right now if you want to know what America First is all about,” he remarked:

Notably, last month, Burgum made it clear that he believes Trump can win “regardless of who is vice president.”

“I think if we actually look in political history, the last time a vice-president pick actually helped swing an election was when Kennedy picked Lyndon Johnson and Lyndon Johnson help Kennedy win that race,” he said.

“And with President Trump, right now, where he is with Hispanics, with blacks, with people under age 30 and with independents. I mean, he’s very strong across the board. So he can pick someone that you can focus on like, ‘Hey, let’s, let’s get someone gets stuff done.’ Let’s get someone who helps him govern,” he added.