The Republican National Convention kicks off on Monday with the question of who will be chosen here as Donald Trump’s vice president.a role that has taken on greater relevance after the attempted assassination of the former president has reminded that his running mate could one day be forced to govern the country.

According to Trump’s confirmation to Fox News journalist Bret Baier, he will announce his decision this Monday. Saturday’s assassination attempt, in which the former president was wounded and one of his supporters died, adds to the calculations the need for the chosen one to be capable of governing and not just represent an aid to attract votes and be a loyal “number two.”

The quality of loyalty had until now been essential for Trump, who considers that Mike Pence, who was his vice president from 2017 to 2021, betrayed him by refusing to block the transition of power following Joe Biden’s election victory.

One of the favorites for the post is Ohio Senator JD Vance, 39, who won her seat in the Upper House in 2021 thanks to the key support she received from Trump, whom she had criticized years before.

A Doctor of Laws from Yale University and a Navy veteran, rose to fame in 2016 thanks to the publication of his memoirs “Hillbilly Elegy” about his childhood in a poor family and has become a young figurehead for the American right. Trump recently denied a rumour that Vance was disqualified from the race for wearing a beard, given that the former president does not like facial hair. “He looks good,” he said of him in an interview.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio’s dream of reaching the White House, after his failed attempt in 2016, could come true if he is chosen by Trump as his running mate. But this son of Cuban immigrants faces a legal obstacle: the 12th Amendment of the Constitution prohibits presidential and vice presidential candidates on the same ticket from living in the same state, as is the case in Florida in the case of Trump (Palm Beach) and Rubio (Miami).

If the residency issue is resolved and Trump elects him, the 53-year-old senator will would become the first Hispanic on a presidential ticket in the US. Among the positive points, ‘Little Marco’, as Trump called him before they became allies, is helped not only by the fact that he speaks Spanish fluently, but also by the fact that he is a key reference for Cuban, Venezuelan and Nicaraguan exiles.

North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, 67, was little known nationally until he ran in the Republican primary. She withdrew her candidacy to support Trump and has gradually become a stronger candidate for vice president.

Burgum is a billionaire businessman who began his career with a small software company that was eventually acquired by Microsoft for more than $1 billion. On the downside, Trump has expressed suspicions about the governor’s strong support for abortion restrictions in North Dakota, an issue that the New York tycoon fears will come back to haunt him in the November elections.

Tim Scott is the only black senator in the Republican Party. The grandson of a cotton field worker in the American “deep” south, he is often held up as an example of the American dream and initially ran for president himself.

The 58-year-old South Carolina representative, a staunch believer, never managed to get above 4% of the vote in the primary process. and ended up giving up his aspirations, pointing out that the voters had made it clear to him that it was not the time.

Since then, his support for Trump has been clear. In January, he interrupted a speech by the former president to tell him that he loved him: “That’s why he’s a great politician,” He responded that if he were elected, he could have in Scott an ally to bring the African-American community closer to his base.