With November 2024 more than a year and a half away, Republicans are quietly positioning themselves for the presidential primary season.
It’s a delicate dance, now that former President Donald Trump has entered contention.
To many GOP voters, challengers from within the party still look like betrayers, particularly if they talked up their loyalty to the former commander-in-chief while he was in charge.
Many top Republican donors and politicians, meanwhile, seem ready to dump Trump, particularly after an underwhelming 2022 midterm performance that some blame on the former president’s influence on candidate selection.
“I know how life works. And I know how politics works. And politics is a microcosm, but even more vicious, of life,” Trump said.
1. Donald Trump
His recent fundraising, widely reported as an under-performance in the legacy media, may have opened up more space for challengers on Trump’s flank.
One Emerson College poll from January found that Trump strongly leads DeSantis and other possible Republican contenders among GOP primary voters. The same survey also shows Trump beating President Joe Biden in the general election.
Trump held events in South Carolina and New Hampshire, two key early primary states, at the end of January.
The former president’s supporters remain confident he will stand strong against his competitors in the GOP.
2. Ron DeSantis
DeSantis has not formally announced a 2024 candidacy.
Yet, the governor’s emergence as a polarizing national figure with a reputation for effective conservative governance has helped make him a possible rival, or successor, to former President Trump.
That came just days after the former president publicly mocked DeSantis at a rally, labeling him “Ron DeSanctimonious.”
As noted above, DeSantis isn’t significantly underperforming Trump in opinion polling, and has even bested him in some head-to-head polls.
3. Mike Pence
Trump’s one-time running mate, Mike Pence, is another recurring name when 2024 comes up.
Advancing American Freedom, a nonprofit founded by Pence, will run ads and a broader outreach effort across Iowa, a key early state during the presidential primary and caucus season.
The campaign will focus on transgender policies in schools.
“In the months ahead, I’m just going to be listening to the American people,” he said.
Pence, like Trump and Biden, has been the focus of a federal law enforcement investigation into his retention of classified documents.
4. Nikki Haley
Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, is expected to announce her presidential run on Feb. 15 in Charleston, South Carolina.
She will then embark on a tour of New Hampshire and Iowa.
Haley will speak at town hall events in Exeter and Manchester in New Hampshire on Feb. 15 and Feb. 17, respectively, the latter at Saint Anselm University’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics.
The Iowa leg of her trip will take her to a town hall event in Urbandale, outside Des Moines, where she will speak on Feb. 20. Haley will then travel to speak at a similar event in Marion, near Cedar Rapids, the following day.
Haley said in April 2021 that she “would not run if President Trump ran”—a claim the former president brought up in a recent Truth Social post.
“Nikki has to follow her heart, not her honor. She should definitely run!” Trump wrote.
Haley polled at 3 percent in the above-mentioned Emerson College poll.
She also addressed her 2021 comment about not running if Trump announced:
5. Tim Scott
Another politico from the Palmetto State, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), is also gearing up for a national tour, though he has neither leaked nor formally announced a run for the presidency.He’s launching a “Faith in America” national listening tour, starting with a Black History Month speech on Feb. 16 in South Carolina.
Scott will be in Iowa on Feb. 22.
He will speak in Des Moines, addressing the topic of faith in America, before delivering remarks at the Polk County Republican Party Lincoln Dinner, as confirmed to The Epoch Times by Polk County Republican Chair Gloria Mazza.
His time in Iowa will be preceded by an ad campaign in the state.
Scott’s response to Biden’s recent State of the Union speech may hint at executive aspirations.
6. Mike Pompeo
Pompeo, who led the CIA and later the State Department under Trump, has also publicly mulled a 2024 run.He addressed the topic in an interview coinciding with the release of his new book, “Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love.”
Pompeo has a Super PAC as well, Champion American Values PAC (CAVPAC).
Other possible 2024 candidates include Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas); former House Speaker Paul Ryan; New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu; former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan; Texas Gov. Greg Abbott; Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin; and even former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), a favorite of “Never Trump” Republicans because of her participation in the Jan. 6 Committee hearings.
Cheney has said she will leave the Republican Party should they nominate Trump in 2024.
Trump, meanwhile, told Hewitt on Feb. 3 he would not pledge to support the GOP’s eventual 2024 nominee.