ap

Skip to content

Who should Trump pick for VP? Western Conservative Summit says Newt Gingrich

Sen. Tom Cotton finishes second after weekend of less-than-enthusiastic support for Donald Trump

File-This March 8, 2014, file photo shows former House Speaker Newt Gingrich addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference annual meeting in National Harbor, Md.  Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has begun formally vetting prospective vice presidential picks. The New York billionaire is considering Gingrich, among what he previously described as a short list of possible running mates. Gingrich's inclusion was confirmed by a person involved in the vetting process who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the situation publicly.
(AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
Cliff Owen, Associated Press file
File-This March 8, 2014, file photo shows former House Speaker Newt Gingrich addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference annual meeting in National Harbor, Md. Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump has begun formally vetting prospective vice presidential picks. The New York billionaire is considering Gingrich, among what he previously described as a short list of possible running mates. Gingrich’s inclusion was confirmed by a person involved in the vetting process who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss the situation publicly. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen, File)
DENVER, CO - SEPTEMBER  8:    Denver Post reporter Joey Bunch on Monday, September 8, 2014. (Denver Post Photo by Cyrus McCrimmon)
PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:
Getting your player ready...

Donald Trump has given few hints at who he might tap for a running mate as the Republican National Convention looms, but delegates to the Western Conservative Summit picked Newt Gingrich this weekend.

In the results of a vice-presidential straw poll, the former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives and general of the so-called got 20 percent of the vote from the three-day conservative conclave of about 4,000 registrants from 40 states.

They picked Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas second. The 39-year-old freshman senator first caught national attention a decade ago while deployed in Iraq, when he e-mailed The New York Times calling for three of its  for reporting on the Bush administration’s efforts to fight terrorists.

Cotton was a keynote speaker at the Western Conservative Summit on Saturday morning but . And as voting was wrapping up at the summit Sunday morning, the high-profile defense hawk was on Trump’s foreign policy on “Meet the Press.”

Gingrich got 194 votes to Cotton’s 148.

Carly Fiorina, who spoke at the summit Saturday night, finished third with 113 votes. She to Ben Carson, who finished fourth in this year’s vice-presidential poll with 108 votes.

Fiorina was of Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas in April, before he dropped out of the presidential race. Cruz finished fifth in the VP sweepstakes Sunday with 81 votes.

Trump finished ninth in last year’s straw poll for president.

“The Western Conservative Summit straw poll is a test of 2016 potential vice-presidential preferences among conservatives in Colorado and the Western states,” stated Jeff Hunt, director of the Centennial Institute at Colorado Christian University in Lakewood, which has put on the summit since 2010.

Rand Paul received 50 votes to finish sixth, ahead of former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who Friday morning, with 41.

Others on the ballot were New Mexico Gov. Susana Martinez (32), Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse (28), Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions (26), House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisconsin (24), New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (23), former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (19), Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst (13), Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (7) and Tennessee Sen. Bob Corker.

There were 78 other ballots cast to total 985.

 

RevContent Feed

More in Politics