Potential VP pick joins Trump on flight to raucous Jersey Shore rally after he nixed another hopeful

Donald Trumpstruck deep into blue territory on Saturday as he rallied in Wildwood, New Jersey alongside the latest Republican to be featured in his Survivor-esque search for a running mate: Doug Burgum.

The former president and the governor of North Dakota spoke to thousands of fans in a state that will almost inevitably be won by the incumbent Democratic president, Joe Biden, in the fall. New Jersey has not been won by a Republican at the presidential level since 1988.

At the Trump rally, Burgum lavished compliments on his former primary rival, and urged undecided voters to back the presumptive Republican nominee after an estimated 80,000 supporters had gathered on the beach in front of the Jersey Shore resort town’s ferris wheel.

“You can help them make that choice, for your undecided friends, it’s very simple: Donald Trump means strength, Joe Biden means weakness. Donald Trump means law and order, Joe Biden is lawfare. Donald Trump creates jobs, Joe Biden’s policies kill jobs,” said Gov. Burgum, who had flown to the event with Mr Trump.

“If you’ve got friends that like inflation, regulation, crime, wars, sham political trials and open borders, if you want more of that you can get four more years of Joe Biden.”

Mr Burgum is the latest mid- to high-profile Republicanto be whispered about as a possible contender for being Donald Trump’s running mate.

His ascendancy in the field of possible choices for that position comes as Trump himself put an end to rumours that he was considering another Republican who, like Burgum, ran against him in 2024: Nikki Haley.

Ahead of the rally on Saturday, Mr Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social, to nix a report that Nikki Haley was among the contenders to be his 2024