Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary has revealed his choice for Donald Trump’s vice president, as tension mounts over who will join him on the 2024 ticket.
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, the investor praised North Dakota Governor and former businessman Doug Burgum as a potential buffer for the often unpredictable former president.
‘If you are independent and think Trump is crazy, but then you have Burgum in the package, then you have ‘Trump insurance’. “I think they’re going to sell it that way,” he said.
Burgum, 67, recently emerged as one of a few leading contenders for the role as the former president’s running mate in the elections later this year.
The choice will be announced at the Republican National Convention next month, Trump confirmed this week.
Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary has revealed his choice for Donald Trump’s vice president, as tension mounts over who will join him on the 2024 ticket
Burgum had a career in technology and consulting before launching his successful first bid for governor of his home state in 2016.
In the 1980s, he developed a small startup technology company called Great Plains Software, which he later sold to Microsoft in 2001 for more than $1 billion.
According to Forbes, he has an estimated net worth of at least $100 million, although he is a relatively unknown figure and largely untested on the national stage. He launched a presidential campaign in 2024 that received little attention.
Burgum may be a dark horse as a choice for Trump’s running mate, but he has “incredible execution skills because he came from the business community in the state of North Dakota,” O’Leary said.
‘He’s so stable and so honest with a real track record. So you get the bombastic Trump and then you get the Burgum Trump insurance. A little Ying and a little Yang.’
If he were to choose Burgum as his running mate, O’Leary suggested it would be the first time the vice president has been advertised as someone who will implement policy.
“No one usually cares about the vice president when it comes to how he influences policy,” he added.
“But what’s unique about this election is that it becomes important because of the issues surrounding the longevity of both presidential candidates.”
Kevin O’Leary has hailed Vice Presidential hopeful Doug Burgum (pictured) as ‘Trump insurance’
For O’Leary, inflation is the most important problem facing the American people.
‘Energy safety is up there and border safety is up there. That’s different with Burgum, Trump could ask him to solve these problems and he could actually implement it and figure it out.’
When it comes to energy, O’Leary states that Burgum has a strong track record in his home state of North Dakota.
“He’s the energy governor. He is the man who made North Dakota one of the richest states per capita in America. There are only about 750,000 people there, but he put energy at the top of the list.
‘One of the largest untapped oil reserves on earth is in Alaska. How can the royalties on this be used to reduce the national debt?
“And that’s what people are talking about in Washington: Could he be the guy to implement these kinds of policies in Trump’s insurance program?”
Last week, Trump narrowed his search for a vice presidential candidate to just seven contenders and began requesting information from each of them.
In addition to Burgum, the candidates from Florida are Marco Rubio, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio and Tim Scott of South Carolina, according to campaign sources cited by Fox news.
Byron Donalds of Florida, Elise Stefanik of New York, and Trump’s 2016 rival Ben Carson would also be on the list — a group of seven who will be vetted after filling out the forms, two others said.
Burgum may be a dark horse as a choice for Trump’s running mate, but he has “incredible execution skills because he came from the business community in the state of North Dakota,” O’Leary said (Burgum and Trump at a rally in Las Vegas in February)
The paperwork sent to each candidate reportedly varies, one of the sources said, because representatives for each of the rumored candidates did not respond to requests for comment.
Aides, meanwhile, have warned that Trump’s list is not concrete and constantly evolving — and that the decision will ultimately be up to him.
“Anyone who claims to know who or when President Trump will choose his vice president is lying,” Trump campaign spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement.
He quickly added, “Unless the person’s name is Donald J. Trump.”