Democrats launch ‘MAGA Veepstakes’ to target extreme views of Trump’s running mate hopefuls

DNC will target Trump’s potential running mates for their anti-abortion views and election denialism

The Democratic National Committee has launched a campaign to target the “desperate race to the bottom” to become Donald Trump’s running mate.

The DNC’s “Trump’s MAGA Veepstakes” will highlight the Republican vice presidential hopefuls’ anti-abortion views, election lies, and support for gutting healthcare and Social Security.

“Like any narcissist, Donald Trump will choose a VP in his image: an extreme, anti-choice MAGA election denier who wants to rip away Americans’ freedoms and sell out working families to help their special interest donors,” DNC communications director Rosemary Boeglin said in a statement shared with The Independent.

“Trump has floated dozens of names, and while he trots them around like sad show ponies on the campaign trail, it doesn’t really matter who’s in his good graces one day and who’s shooting their dog the next.

“Trump’s VP contenders have all already shown they pass his extreme, MAGA litmus test.”

The campaign, first reported by Axios, will shape Democratic messaging during President Joe Biden’s re-election campaign, which has broadened its scope to warn against the Republican party’s growing far-right antidemocratic agenda and Mr Trump’s dominance across US politics.

The “MAGA Veepstakes” campaign will reach across social media, in rapid response messaging and in candidates’ remarks, advertisements and debates, a DNC official told The Independent.

US Rep Byron Donalds, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, House Speaker Mike Johnson, former GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and US Rep Cory Mills attend Donald Trump’s hush money trial on May 14 (POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Democrats will hammer Mr Trump’s shortlist of running mates, which is “chock full of anti-abortion extremists who are in lockstep with Trump’s cruel anti-choice agenda to rip away women’s freedoms,” according to the DNC.

The campaign also will target the party’s “extreme election denialism” and Mr Trump’s bogus narrative that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him.

Democrats will also focus on potential running mates who have vowed to gut the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, as well as Medicare and Social Security, and the GOP’s “yearslong records of threatening seniors’ pocketbooks.”

The campaign will also zoom in on candidates’ support for Trump-backed tax cuts.

South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem hugs Donald Trump at a campaign rally in September 2023. (REUTERS)

Mr Trump has not yet unveiled a running mate but hasn’t turned away praise from a parade of loyalists who appear to be vying for the spot.

A string of hopefuls have been putting in an appearance at his hush money trial in New York, acting as his surrogates to rail against the case and the judge.

Vice President Kamala Harris has already accepted an invitation from CBS to debate Mr Trump’s running mate on the network on either July 23 or August 13.

But Mr Trump wants it on Fox News.

“The DNC and their media defenders will stop at nothing to gaslight the American people into believing their lies and forgetting their disastrous record,” Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said in a statement.