Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis battle against Trump vice president slot

Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley‘s campaign accused 2024 rival Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) of being a “phony” and rejected pressure from the governor over whether she would accept a vice presidential invitation from former President Donald Trump, who currently leads all his competitors in national and early nominating state polling.

DeSantis on Friday unequivocally stated he wouldn’t become Trump’s vice president if he were to win the GOP nomination, before saying that Haley was dodging the vice president question from Republican voters.

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“She will not answer directly — and she owes you an answer to this — will she accept a vice presidential nomination from Donald Trump? Yes or no?” DeSantis said during a campaign stop in New Hampshire. “And I can tell you under any circumstance I will not accept that because that’s not why I’m running. I’m running for the nomination and to be president. … I’d rather be governor than vice president, no question.”

In response to a Washington Examiner request for comment, the Haley campaign rebuffed any vice presidential offers.

“Phony Ron DeSantis has spent ten times more money attacking Nikki Haley than Donald Trump. He’ll say anything to try to salvage his sinking ship of a campaign. Nikki has been very clear from day one, she doesn’t play for second,” a campaign spokesperson said. “Ron is trying to play for fourth in New Hampshire.”

Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, speculated about Haley joining the Trump ticket as his running mate. “Crazier things have happened. I don’t know. I would never say never with Donald J. Trump. Never say never,” she told Newsmax’s Eric Bolling in an interview this week.

Haley served as a member of Trump’s Cabinet when she was the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, giving her experience working under the former president. But her run for president has caused Trump to derisively attack her as a “birdbrain” on the campaign trail.

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With roughly a month until the Iowa caucuses, followed by the New Hampshire primary eight days later, the non-Trump candidates don’t have much time to make their last arguments to convince voters to back their campaigns.

Haley and DeSantis are set to face off in a Jan. 10 CNN-sponsored debate in Iowa. Neither Vivek Ramaswamy nor former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have yet qualified for the debate. Trump is unlikely to participate given his snubbing of the first four GOP primary debates this year.