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After 03:30 in the June 17, 2024 They were once rivals. Rubio is now helping Trump with debate prep CNN's Randi Kaye explains:

...it's complicated because of this provision in the constitution. Long story short, if Trump does pick Rubio as his running mate, there's a provision in the constitution that says electoral college votes from their home state of Florida can't go to both of them.

So in other words, there's a penalty, and of course a massive dis-incentive for someone to pick a running mate from the same state. We saw this in 2000 with George Bush and Dick Cheney, they were both from Texas, Cheney moved to Wyoming so they wouldn't lose any electoral college votes.

My guess is that the underlying concern that motivated this provision in the constitution was to avoid over-representation of a single state wherever possible. But that's not my question.

Question: If Trump picked Rubio as a running mate, by what date would Rubio need to change his state residency to avoid losing Florida's electoral votes, and would he then have to resign as Florida senator?

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The critical date is the meeting of the electors: December 17, 2024. From that, an adjustment must be made to allow for establishing residency in another state, but that may vary depending on the state. Cheney's return to Wyoming (raised in Wyoming and represented Wyoming in the House) was done in July 2000. Note that the Republican National Convention to nominate Trump will meet in July 2024.

Should Rubio have been selected and to be announced at the convention, Rubio's move to another state would likely be planned to occur in July. However, unlike Cheney, Rubio has never been connected to any other state. In any case, Rubio will need to resign from the Senate.

There is a law review article from 2001, Who's Afraid of the Twelfth Amendment?, that examines the meaning of "inhabitant" within the context of the Twelfth Amendment. One of the issues raised was whether Cheney was an inhabitant of Texas at the time of the Election.

... a group of Texas voters filed suit in November [2000] challenging the legitimacy of a vote by Texas’s electors for both Bush and Cheney.

Jones v. Bush, 122 F. Supp. 2d 713 (N.D. Tex. 2000). The Fifth Circuit summarily affirmed. Jones v. Bush, 244 F.3d 134 (5th Cir. 2000). The opinion, in its entirety, reads, “All requested relief is DENIED.” Jones v. Bush, No. 00-11346 (5th Cir. Dec. 7, 2000).

The court examined dictionaries from around the time of the ratification of the amendment to discern the meaning of "inhabitant" and, by one definition, one could be an inhabitant of wherever one owns property. Another used permanent resident.

The court's opinion is unpublished and "is not precedent except under the limited circumstances set forth in ...", which means the question could be revisited.

The circumstances concerning Rubio are different than for Cheney. Cheney had homes in three states at the time. As far as I know, Rubio has only one home in one state.

2024 Electoral College

December 17, 2024—electors vote
(the first Tuesday after second Wednesday in December)

The electors in each State meet to select the President and Vice President of the United States.

Twelfth Amendment Election of President

The Electors shall meet in their respective states and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; ...

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    The obvious solution would be for Trump to re-establish residency in New York State with which he has longstanding connections and a residence, rather than for Rubio to move.
    – ohwilleke ♦
    Commented Jun 18 at 17:33
  • @ohwilleke That seems like the obvious solution rather then have lose yet another vote in the senate and give Democrats more power there.,
    – Joe W
    Commented Jun 18 at 19:18
  • @ohwilleke I chose to ask about the scenario that would generate an interesting answer: "The critical date is the meeting of the electors: December 17, 2024" but that there must be an adjustment (earlier I assume) based on what I assume is some delay period to establish residency. The answer then goes on to explain the more complicated Cheney scenario, and the interesting unpublished ruling and therefore lack of useful precedent. I'm not sure how to ask a question based on Trump moving that would produce such an interesting answer.
    – uhoh
    Commented Jun 19 at 0:13
  • @ohwilleke But knowing New Yorkers and guessing how they might react, and based on Trump's... everything, I just don't see the "most obvious solution" actually happening under any circumstance. "Move for 'little Marco'? Never!"
    – uhoh
    Commented Jun 19 at 0:15
  • @RickSmith I appreciate your thorough answer; "the meeting of the electors", "Twelfth Amendment", "(would) need to resign"and the lack of a written opinion therefore precedent (Cheney) are all important points. Now I have plenty of reading to do before asking further.
    – uhoh
    Commented Jun 19 at 0:20

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