Former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) just suggested that she is open to being former President Donald Trump's running mate in the 2024 general election. 

Gabbard did so Friday during an interview on the Fox News Channel.

Two things are worth pointing out here.

The first is that Gabbard is a former Democrat who is now an independent because she does not agree with the direction in which the Democratic Party has gone. And, as will be demonstrated, Trump has suggested that Gabbard is on his "short list" of running mate candidates.

"I would be open to that"

Gabbard, on Friday, appeared on the Fox News Channel's Jesse Watters Primetime with host Jesse Watters. There Watters asked her whether she would be open to becoming Trump's running mate.

“Tulsi, you’re being considered for a VP slot. Is that something you’re open to?” Watters asked.

Gabbard replied in the affirmative.

"I would be open to that," Gabbard said.

She added, "My mission is to serve our country. I want to be in a position to solve problems, Jesse, and we’ve got a lot of them to solve."

Background

Towards the end of February, Trump participated in a town hall event in South Carolina. This was just ahead of the state's Republican presidential primary, which Trump went on to win, easily.

Fox, at the time, reported:

During the program, which ran on Fox News' The Ingraham Angle, Trump was asked about half a dozen potential running mate choices: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, multimillionaire biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, and former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii, a Democrat turned independent.

Trump was specifically asked whether these candidates were on his "shortlist" of potential 2024 running mates. Trump answered, "They are. Honestly, all of those people are good. They're all good. They're all solid."

Speculation about Trump's running mate choice has become the focus of the Republican presidential primary season, and this is the result of the simple fact that Trump has dominated both 2024 polling and the 2024 primaries. Just this past weekend, Trump won Missouri, Michigan, and Idaho, and it is looking as though he going to have a big Super Tuesday.

The likely reason why Trump would consider choosing someone like Gabbard, a former Democrat, is to try to win the votes of centrist voters that he otherwise might have difficulty getting.