Amid all of the speculative reports about who former President Donald Trump might pick to be his running mate in the 2024 election, one name, in particular, has recently surged to the top of the list of likely contenders.
That would be Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), the chair of the House Republican Conference and a loyal defender of the ex-president, who is now the odds-on favorite to be Trump's vice presidential choice, according to a top betting site, Newsweek reported.
The news isn't shocking to those following the Trump VP horse race rumors, as the New York congresswoman has long been included in the various lists of possible candidates to join the former president on the GOP ticket.
Newsweek revealed that British bookmaker Betfair offers 9/2 odds on wagers that Rep. Stefanik will be former President Trump's choice as running mate.
Coming behind Stefanik in terms of the best odds to be Trump's VP pick is South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem at 6/1 and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy at 15/2, with former Housing Sec. Ben Carson and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, both of whom served under Trump, rounding out the top five with respective odds of 10/1 and 11/1.
Betfair spokesman Sam Rosbottom told the outlet that while the only real obstacle between Trump and the GOP nomination was his multiple ongoing criminal cases, "The market for Republican vice president nominee is a lot tighter between the candidates; Elise Stefanik is the favorite at 9/2, while Kristi Noem and Vivek Ramaswamy closely follow at 6/1 and 15/2, respectively."
The oddsmaker also has Trump favored to win the general election with near-even odds of 21/20, which is better than the 2/1 odds for incumbent President Joe Biden, and Rosbottom said, "Odds on Donald Trump to return to the White House continue to shorten following his win in the New Hampshire primary, which has effectively paved the way for November's vote to be a re-run of the 2020 election."
"After winning in both the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary, he has become the first Republican to win both in an open campaign in almost 50 years, and punters have backed him into his shortest odds at 21/20 to return to the Oval Office since the market opened, which gives him around a 49 percent chance," he added. "Four years ago, Joe Biden was as big as 99/1 to be president at this stage of the race, and while his odds aren't currently anywhere near what they were back then, the incumbent is trailing Trump at 2/1 (34 percent)."
It isn't just bookies and bettors who have grown keen on Rep. Stefanik's chances to be picked as former President Trump's VP, as numerous media outlets, such as NewsNation, have recently published speculative reports and profile pieces about her that take note of her undeniable transformation from an initial Trump critic to be one of his fiercest supporters.
Indeed, when Stefanik was first elected to Congress in 2014, after having previously worked in former President George W. Bush's White House and on the 2012 Romney-Ryan campaign, she was known as a moderate Republican who openly opposed Trump in his first few years in office. Since then, however, she has fully embraced the MAGA movement, touted Trump's policies, defended him from impeachment, supported his challenges of the 2020 election, and has gone on the attack against his rivals and persecutors.
Part of what is fueling the Stefanik VP rumor mill is a recent NBC News report that, citing multiple inside sources, asserted that Trump has been seriously considering the congresswoman since at least December, if not earlier than that, and allegedly said that "She’s a killer" while talking with other advisers about her prospects.
One of those advisers, former 2016 campaign strategist Steve Bannon, told the outlet that "Stefanik is at the top" of Trump's shortlist of contenders, in large part because of her outspoken loyalty to the former president.
That loyalty to Trump was on full display just weeks earlier during a hostile interview on NBC's "Meet the Press" with Kristen Welker, in which Stefanik deftly sparred with the anti-Trump host and, while not answering directly in the affirmative, also didn't rule out the possibility of serving as Trump's vice president.
When asked by Welker if she would accept an offer to be the former president's running mate in the 2024 election, Stefanik replied, "Well, I, of course, would be honored to serve in any capacity in a Trump administration."
