OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Kellyanne Conway, a contributor to Fox News, predicted that former President Donald Trump would make “significant gains” in support from Hispanic voters in November while she also urged him to choose a person of color as his running mate.
In a segment on Fox’s “Outnumbered,” the panel criticized President Joe Biden for his efforts to appeal to Latino voters, accusing him of pandering. According to a February poll by The New York Times and Siena College, Trump is leading Biden by six points among Latino voters.
In the 2020 election, Biden defeated Trump in the country’s Latino vote, but the Republican candidate was on the verge of securing the majority in several crucial states, including Florida. Conway claimed that the influx of migrants entering the country from the south and the COVID-19 lockdowns would help swing more Hispanic voters to Trump in 2024.
“Look, every way you look at it, Hispanics have so many reasons to dump Biden. Harris. The main one is the border. How cynical of an entire Democratic Party to believe that in the nine years since Donald Trump elevated into international consciousness his view on illegal immigration. Build the wall. Be fair to the people here, America first,” Conway said.
“Nine years later, the Democrats still think that attacking Donald Trump on the border is going to get them Hispanic vote. Hispanics are also upset that they are hostile to religion, that they masked up their kids and kept them home for the better part of two school years. The economic upward mobility that is being lost to them. So I think that Donald Trump’s going to have a monster gains among Hispanics, and I think it’s part of why he should pick a person of color as his VP,” she added.
In a guest post for The New York Times, Conway stated that when determining what should be Trump’s “most important” question regarding a running mate for 2024, the question “Who?” is less significant than “Why?”
“In other words, the individual should complement, not complicate, his America First record and vision and recognize the difference between loyalty-as-tenacity (yes) and loyalty-as-obsequiousness (no),” Conway wrote.
Trump’s choice for a running mate will be more crucial this time around than last time, when he chose then-former Indiana Gov. Mike Pence on the recommendation of Conway.
“This time Trump’s calculus will be much different than it was during his last two campaigns,” New York Magazine’s Intelligencer column noted. “Unlike in 2016, he can pretty much choose whoever he wants (within reason). Assuming the primary continues on its current trajectory, he will owe his nomination to no particular party faction; that means there’s no significant bloc of intraparty opposition that he must appease the way conservative evangelicals needed to be placated with Mike Pence.”
“Trump also has to think about his legacy. Since he’s limited to two terms, his veep will be the prohibitive front-runner in 2028 if Republicans win,” the column continued. “Even if they don’t take back the White House, the vice presidential choice is Trump’s best opportunity to designate a successor not only as party leader but as the chieftain of the MAGA movement.”
The former president has made several comments about potential running mates, but he has yet to make a hard-and-fast determination.
Still, there has been a great deal of speculation regarding who he will choose.
A noted Republican senator dropped a big hint during a Newsmax TV interview earlier this month that Trump is likely to pick him to be his running mate and eventual vice president.
“Senator, I would love to moderate a debate with you, but I have a hunch that there might be a vice presidential debate,” said host Eric Bolling. “Maybe Kamala Harris will be debating Senator Tim Scott on that one, and I would be honored to moderate that one.”
“If you’re the guy moderating, maybe I’ll be talking to you,” Scott said in response. “We’ll see what happens… but we need a new president. And that’s Donald Trump.”
