Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, has not visited the courthouse in Manhattan to show off his support for Donald J. Trump, like other potential running mates. He is not a fixture at the former president's campaign rallies and has not become part of the furniture at Mar-a-Lago like other Republicans hungry for relevance.
Instead, Rubio has taken a low-key approach in his quest to become the next Republican vice presidential nominee, a strategy with a clear logic: Trump is known to have a short temper when anyone gets too close to the spotlight.
But for Mr. Rubio, it is also a strategy with a history. When the two men battled for the Republican nomination in 2016, Trump mercilessly mocked his rival's height, ears and mannerisms. Mr. Rubio hurled his own schoolyard taunts, which landed awkwardly and then painfully backfired until his defeat. Since then, the senator has been careful and discreet about how close he gets to Mr. Trump.
His behind-the-scenes maneuvers have transformed him from a bitter rival into an occasional policy adviser and now a leading contender to join Trump's ticket, advisers to the former president said.
The son of Cuban immigrants, Mr. Rubio could help Mr. Trump appeal to Latin American voters. Mr. Rubio is now more of a seasoned politician than the youthful “Republican savior” on the 2013 cover of Time. Reassure Republican donors and the moderate voters who supported former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley over Trump in the primaries. (Ms. Haley notably supported Mr. Rubio's presidential bid in 2016.)
Trump aides and donors also view the senator as one of several candidates who would pose little risk of creating unwanted distractions for a candidate already facing multiple legal threats. He is also known to have a strong relationship with Susie Wiles, a senior adviser to the Florida and Trump campaign who is coordinating the search for a running mate.
But it's unclear whether Rubio's quiet campaign will work. The gentle touch has stunned Mr. Trump, who has privately wondered how badly the senator wants the job, according to two people familiar with the former president's thinking.
In fact, Mr. Rubio needs to show that he wants the job without showing that he wants it too much.
Another risk is that everyone around Trump does that vulnerable to another round of public humiliation. For Mr. Rubio, the humiliations have crept into the conversation.
Mr. Trump has told advisers that Mr. Rubio would have to leave the state to avoid a potential hurdle: the Constitution might prohibits two residents from the same state from sharing a presidential ticket.
Mr. Rubio has lived most of his life in the Miami area and is the father of three college students and a fourth in high school. Mr. Trump moved his residence to Florida in 2019 and has homes in New York and New Jersey. But he has told people he would not change his address because voters in the state would be too angry to lose him as a resident, according to two people familiar with the conversations.
Mr. Rubio has told people that changing his residence would not be a problem, according to two people familiar with the conversations.
A spokesman for Mr. Rubio declined to comment. A Trump campaign spokesman said only the former president knows who he will choose as his running mate.
Mr. Trump told donors at an event this month that Mr. Rubio's name “comes up a lot.”
“People love Marco, and I love Marco – he's a talented man,” Trump said.
Kellyanne Conway, a former Trump White House adviser, said Trump shortlisted Mr. Rubio in part because of the senator's reliable support. “He can help cement Trump's gains among key voter groups, be a helpful partner in governing and be ready to be president on day one,” Ms. Conway said. “He is a prodigious fundraiser, a foreign policy expert and a facilitator on TV.”
In the past, Trump has been known to pit opponents against each other to justify his decision, or, as he has described it, see allies “fighting over who loves me most.” Although Mr. Rubio seemed reluctant to play along, he began to align himself with Mr. Trump.
Mr. Rubio voted to certify the 2020 election despite pressure from Mr. Trump to overturn the results, describing democracy at the time as “held together by people's faith in elections and their willingness to stick to the results.”
Last week, he raised doubts about whether the 2024 election would be fair and accused Democrats of undermining the election's credibility.
“Hopefully we'll have a fair election and there won't be any questions about it,” he said belligerently on NBC's Meet the Press.
Last month, Mr. Rubio joined several other potential vice presidential candidates in voting against a $95 billion military aid package for Israel, Taiwan and Ukraine, which Mr. Trump also opposed. Despite a record of strongly supporting military allies, Mr. Rubio argued that the money came at the expense of border enforcement called it “moral extortion.”
“I understand that in our republic, compromise between governments is necessary – we must do this continually,” Mr. Rubio said on the Senate floor, adding that “this is not a compromise. This is legislative blackmail.”
Any discussion of Mr. Rubio's prospects quickly veers into the brutal 2016 primaries, when Mr. Trump — who at 6-foot-1, is about six inches taller than Mr. Rubio and 25 years older — regularly ridiculed the senator made as 'Little Marco. ”
“Looks seem to be very important to Trump, and I have a hard time seeing how he will pick someone a foot shorter than him,” said Ana Navarro, a Republican consultant who backed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in 2016 . Mr. Rubio and Mr. Trump. “How will he think it will look good if he stands next to him and raises hands together?”
Mocking Mr. Rubio's height was just one of many insults from Mr. Trump in the weeks leading up to the 2016 presidential primaries in Florida. Mr. Trump also ridiculed Mr. Rubio as a “nervous basket case” with ” the biggest ears I've ever seen. while harping on his Senate attendance record, declaring him weak on illegal immigration but strong on amnesty. Mr. Rubio returned it, describing Mr. Trump as a petty, spray-tanned charlatan who avoided Vietnam because of “squash injuries.”
The result: Trump won Florida with almost 20 percentage points, forcing Mr. Rubio to suspend his presidential campaign and instead seek a second term in the Senate. The two didn't speak for seven months — until just before the election, when Trump and his team were nervous about winning the state in the general election, according to three people familiar with conversations.
Mr. Trump's respect for Mr. Rubio appeared to increase after he won the White House and Mr. Rubio rallied 4.8 million voters in his Senate race, compared with the 4.6 million Floridians who supported Mr. Trump .
For months, when they talked, Trump regularly asked Rubio how he won more votes in the state, two of the people said.
It was part of a charm offensive that continued during Trump's first weeks in the White House, when he invited Rubio to the White House for dinner. Mr. Rubio saw an opportunity to influence Mr. Trump on his priorities.
Mr. Rubio continued to advise Mr. Trump on foreign policy, especially issues related to Venezuela and Cuba, and worked with the Trump administration on the expansion of the child tax credit and the pandemic relief bill.
The experience could also help reassure traditional Republican voters, who have been wary of supporting a second term for Trump. Mr. Rubio, who turned 53 on Tuesday, has spent about half his life in municipal, state and federal elected office.
But while Mr. Rubio's youth has faded, his ambition and political edge have not. And that combination is worrying even some Trump critics, including former Rep. David Jolly of Florida.
“Marco Rubio would give Donald Trump the White House in November,” said Mr. Jolly, who dropped his Republican affiliation because of Mr. Trump’s influence on the party and described himself as “not a fan of Marco.” “He is the perfect proxy for Haley voters, he appeals to Trumpism without trying to be Trump, and he has been mature and level-headed. He's a star, he's just been a quiet star lately.