Donald Trump rules out a Democrat as running mate
Donald Trump will not be naming a Democrat as his running mate in the general election, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee said Friday.
When asked by Fox News whether Trump would consider choosing a member of the opposing party as vice president, the billionaire said in a phone interview, "I would rule 'em out -- or her out."
"We want to have a great ticket," Trump said, adding that "the Democrats have been in there for a long time."
He noted that the economy under Democratic control of the White House has been "terrible" and offered up unemployment rates as proof.
"No," he reiterated. "I'm going to pick a great Republican, and we're gonna have a tremendous victory -- we're gonna win."
Trump's comments come just a day after Ben Carson, who Trump has charged with heading up his vice presidential search committee, told the Wall Street Journal that a Democrat could be chosen.
"Yes," Carson, a former Trump rival for the White House, told the Journal when asked if Democrats or independents would be put under consideration. "We would consider people who are Americans and who put America first."
A spokesman for Carson later said that the retired neurosurgeon "fully expects Mr. Trump to choose a Republican as his running mate."
Trump has said in the past that he would go the "political route" when choosing a running mate and name someone with legislative experience who could assist in winning over skeptical Republicans to Trump's side.
"I have the business -- let's call it talents," Trump told MSNBC Wednesday. "I think I'll probably go the political route, somebody that can help me with legislation and somebody that can help me get things passed and somebody that's been friends with the senators and the congressman and all."