Who Donald Trump will pick for secretary of state is anyone’s guess - and it’s anyone’s bet too.
Among the names that have been floated include former U.N. Ambassador John Bolton, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, former ambassador to China Jon Huntsman, retired Army Gen. David Petraeus, retired Navy Adm. James Stavridis, GOP Rep. Dana Rohrabacher of California, and former Massachusetts Gov. and Republican nominee Mitt Romney. Trump’s meetings with Romney appear to be garnering the most media attention, as it’s unexpected given what the two had to say about each other during Trump’s campaign.
So what are those who are willing to put their money where their mouths are saying?
According to the Washington Examiner, Gamblers are putting their money on Mitt Romney, according to PredictIt, giving him a 34 percent chance of being Trump’s pick.
That’s down from 44 percent as recently as Nov. 29, but Romney’s odds have risen in recent days.
Behind Romney is Rudy Giuliani (15 percent), John Bolton and Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, R-Calif., (both at 10 percent). They give David Petraeus and Jon Huntsman only a 5 percent chance of being picked. The current secretary of state, John Kerry, only gets a 2 percent chance of still being in the job on Jan. 31. Here’s the odds, visualized:
So it seems like Mitt Romney is the frontrunner, but who knows? On the day of the election, Trump had less than a 25 percent chance of winning the presidency based on the betting odds, and we all know how that turned out.
[Note: This post was authored by Matt Palumbo. Follow him on Twitter @MattPalumbo12]