• Sen. Marco Rubio is a leading contender for Donald Trump’s vice president pick in 2024, per a new report.

• The New York Times reports that Rubio has taken a low-key approach in his bid to run alongside Trump.

• However, Rubio’s approach has left Trump a bit perplexed, the Times reports.

Sen. Marco Rubio is apparently playing hard to get when it comes to beating out the competition and making it as Donald Trump’s VP pick, The New York Times reports.

Through his support behind the scenes, Rubio has become a “leading contender” as the vice president pick, The New York Times reported, citing advisors to Trump.

According to the Times, Rubio hasn’t been keen on joining the president at rallies or hanging out at his Mar-a-Lago home. Rather, he became an “occasional policy advisor” to Trump.

But Rubio’s approach to supporting Trump has apparently confused the former president, who “privately wondered how much the senator wants the job,” the Times writes, citing two people close to Trump.

Rubio is one of over a dozen GOP personalities vying to be Trump’s running mate for 2024, but the former president and the Florida senator have not always been friendly.

The senator ran against Trump during the 2016 GOP primary election, where both candidates tossed insults at each other. Trump called Rubio “Little Marco Rubio,” and Rubio returned fire by saying Trump has small hands. Rubio later came to regret the insult.

The pair moved past the schoolyard insults and have supported each other politically. In 2022, Trump stumped for Rubio’s senate campaign. On Thursday, Trump named Rubio as one of the people who could join his ticket during a local cable news interview at his New York Rally.

Marco Rubio sits at the number three spot in Business Insider’s power ranking of Trump’s potential vice presidents — though Rubio faces the challenge of deciding whether he would leave Florida. The 12th Amendment dictates that a presidential and vice presidential candidate “shall not be an inhabitant of the same state.”

The Times reported that Trump is not budging, but Rubio is willing to part ways with his home state to run alongside Trump.

Representatives for Rubio and Trump did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Read the original article on Business Insider