How to ask for a refferal?

How do you ask for a referral? Kinda dumb but submitting an app and want to reach out to someone in the team, and I don't want to be rude and just ask the dude for a referral. We had a chat and texted over email a few times since then, but it's kinda odd to just email him - he's a VP, and I am looking to lateral.

What is the polite and nice way to ask without pissing people off? I've always found asking rude, usually I just offer and think that is the better standard, but in this case, not sure what to do.

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