Rick Scott says he’s not thinking of becoming Donald Trump’s VP

A day after Gov. Rick Scott became the subject of speculation that he could be considered in the mix as of potential running mates for GOP presidential front runner Donald Trump, he attempted to dial down those rumors by saying that he hadn’t thought at all about the possibility.

“I focus on this job. I’ve got three more years on this job,” he said when asked by longtime Tallahassee reporter Bill Cotterell at a news conference in his office Wednesday afternoon. “My goal is when I finish this job, people are going to say I have to live in Florida because everybody can get a great job.”

On Tuesday, The Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza first broached the subject in an opinion piece also discussing Republicans Nikki Haley, Carly Fiorina and Sarah Palin as possible running mates. Trump rolled to his third consecutive primary victory Tuesday night in Nevada.

Unlike many other Florida Republicans, Scott has remained neutral in the Republican presidential sweepstakes, despite that two Florida native sons – Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio – have been considered front-tier candidates since they entered the race in 2015. Bush dropped out last weekend.

Scott told reporters on Wednesday that he hasn’t decided who he’ll back in Florida’s March 15 presidential primary.

“I’ve been very clear the things that are important to me,” he said. “I think we need to have a president that has a very specific plan on how we’re going to get jobs going in this country, just like we’ve done here in Florida. Somebody who is going to balance the budget. Somebody who is going to cut federal regulations in half. And somebody who is going to be absolutely focused on destroying ISIS.”

He later said he hasn’t decided whether he’ll endorse anyone before the primary.