Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional names as they emerged.
Update: May 5, 2016: With Ted Cruz and John Kasich dropping out of the presidential race in quick succession, the GOP field is left with one candidate remaining: Donald Trump.
There's already plenty of talk about whom the presumptive nominee might pick for a running mate.
In the hours after Kasich conceded on Wednesday, Trump added to the speculation by throwing out a few names he was considering — Kasich himself, as well as Florida Gov. Rick Scott, and Trump’s old friend, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, were all praised by the Republican candidate, according to The New York Times. Though Christie has professed himself open to being Trump’s running mate, both Scott and Kasich said they weren’t interested in the nod.
Naming a vice presidential pick proved to be putting the cart before the horse for Cruz, who picked Carly Fiorina, another former candidate for president, for his running mate. Cruz ended his campaign a few days later.
Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton's campaign has recently confirmed that her campaign is considering vice presidential picks, but staffers are being relatively tight-lipped about who's on the short list.
While there's no race for the vice-presidency, that definitely doesn't mean that the hopefuls aren't campaigning. Various Republican political figures are already angling for an in with certain campaigns, while others are either playing coy about their chances or having their names thrown in for them.
There are any number of options, and endless speculation about who might be chosen. Refinery29 has collected some of the most prominent names swirling around. Click through to learn about the possible vice presidential picks.
This article was originally published on April 27, 2016.
Bob Corker
Senator From Tennessee
Buzz that Corker is on Trump's short list picked up this week when the Tennessee Republican had a meeting with the presumptive GOP nominee. Corker downplayed the speculation, according to CNN, saying the visit was simply "a good meeting about foreign policy and domestic issues," and that he's "not angling for any job."
Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images.
Mary Fallin
Governor of Oklahoma
Gov. Mary Fallin has both endorsed Trump and been open about her willingness to be his vice president. She told local news that she hasn’t been contacted by the Trump campaign, but Donald Trump said the suggestion of her as a VP was “great advice,” on Twitter.
Photo: Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images.
Rick Scott
Governor of Florida
In an interview, Donald Trump named the Florida governor as one of several politicians that he would consider for the VP pick, according to The New York Times. Rick Scott, however, has said that he’s not interested in the vice president’s office. "I’m going to stay in this job," he told CNN.
Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images.
Nikki Haley
Governor of South Carolina
Nikki Haley is both the first woman and the first Indian-American to hold the office of governor in South Carolina, and she’s popular with constituents. After a year in which South Carolina saw the massacre of nine Black churchgoers, followed by a heated debate over the use of the Confederate battle flag on state grounds, she finished 2015 with an approval rating of 56%, according to Public Policy Polling. In January, her response to Obama’s final State of the Union address, seen by some as a test of her ability to operate on the national stage, was widely considered a success. She’s a promising pick for a Ted Cruz campaign, as she endorsed the Texas senator after her original pick, Marco Rubio, dropped out.
Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images.
Chris Christie
Governor of New Jersey
After dropping out in February following a resounding defeat in the New Hampshire primary, Christie quickly turned around to support Donald Trump. Hostage memes notwithstanding, it was a move that left many suspecting he was already maneuvering for the vice presidential nod. Christie also has a personal connection with Trump, as the two have been friends for several years. On April 30, Trump named Christie as one of several governors he would consider for the vice presidential job.
Photo: REX/Shutterstock.
Joni Ernst
Junior Senator from Iowa
Joni Ernst has been getting mentioned as a potential vice presidential pick since last summer, when seven of the then-14 Republican presidential candidates attended an event she hosted in Iowa. Ernst is the first female combat veteran to serve in the Senate — she served 23 years with the Iowa Army National Guard, driving supply convoys in Kuwait during the Iraq War in 2003. Her military career plus her service on the Senate’s Armed Forces and Homeland Security committees could bring foreign policy credibility to any of the Republican candidates. While she hasn’t been named in relation to any specific campaigns, she didn’t seem eager to shoot down speculation, saying to ABC News in July, “that’d be nice.”
Photo: Bloomberg/Getty Images.
Ben Carson
Former GOP Presidential Candidate
Ben Carson dropped out of the race for the GOP nomination in early March, but that doesn’t mean that he’s done gunning for the White House. In the weeks after recusing himself, Carson both endorsed his former opponent Donald Trump, and publicly stated that he’d be willing to be the businessman’s running mate. However, a super PAC purportedly raising money for a vice presidential bid for him shut down on March 25, after Carson said that it was using his name without permission. “I am not seeking title or position, but rather am interested in saving our country for the next generations,” he said in a Facebook post.
Photo: REX/Shutterstock.
Marco Rubio
Junior Senator from Florida
Marco Rubio suspended his own presidential campaign on March 15, 2016, but he had done reasonably well before the fatal loss of his home state of Florida. More than a month after his dropout, he still has 171 delegates and three states under his belt, more than third-place candidate John Kasich has yet accumulated. He could bring substantial support as a running mate — but a few days after dropping out of the presidential race, he told reporters that he had no intention of serving as vice president for any of his former rivals.
Photo: REX/Shutterstock.
Susana Martinez
Governor of New Mexico
Susana Martinez is the first Latina governor in the United States, and the chair of the Republican Governors Association. Though Martinez previously endorsed Marco Rubio, her name has been floated in the media as a potential VP pick for Donald Trump. Her connection to the Hispanic community could aid Trump, whose rhetoric on immigration has been seen as tone-deaf, at the very least. However, it’s unlikely that Martinez would want to hitch her wagon to the Trump campaign — she’s been publicly critical of his language regarding immigrants, and recently called his plan to build a wall on the Mexican border “unrealistic and irresponsible,” according to T he Washington Post. And in late May, Trump publicly lashed out at the governor, saying she's not doing a good job.
Photo: Tom Williams/Getty Images.
John Kasich
Governor of Ohio
Despite Kasich's fierce opposition to the presumptive nominee, Trump has reportedly been considering Kasich, a former rival for the GOP nomination, as a vice president.
Kasich, for his part, has previously said that there’s “no way ” he’d team up with Trump.
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