Former President Trump’s relatively new status as a Florida resident is complicating the potential of him choosing the state’s senior Sen. Marco Rubio (R) to run on the same ticket as him in November.
The 12th Amendment maintains that presidential and vice presidential candidates running on the same ticket “shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves.” And theoretically, Florida electors would be blocked from voting for a Trump-Rubio ticket.
“Florida is a large state and a state that you hope to carry,” said Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame.
The amendment could prove to be a headache for the two candidates if Trump taps Rubio as his running mate. But legal experts say there are loopholes to get around the rule, which many Republican strategists argue could be worth it given the background and experience the senator could bring to a potential ticket.
“It wasn’t too long ago that [Rubio] was somebody in the conversation to be the future of the Republican Party. He adds a lot of pluses to the ticket,” said Ford O’Connell, a Florida-based Republican strategist. “The minus here is the 12th Amendment.”
There is precedent for presidential and
