Several senior figures in the Republican Party could challenge former US president Donald Trump for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination, including popular governors, senators and a former US vice president.
While Trump won the White House in 2016 and still has a solid base of loyal support, he is seen as weakened after many candidates that he backed in last week’s midterm elections performed poorly.
Florida governor Ron DeSantis is a rising star of the party. In 2018, the little known DeSantis won Trump’s endorsement and went on to capture the state leadership.
Photo: AP
While sharing Trump’s political ideas, DeSantis has since cut a more calculated path and is less prone to Trump’s outbursts.
He did not lock down Florida during the COVID-19 pandemic, and orchestrated a number of headline-grabbing actions, such as restricting discussion of gender identity in public schools and flying migrants to Martha’s Vineyard, a popular vacation spot for Democratic Party leaders.
He was re-elected in the midterms by a massive 20-point margin, turning up the heat on a relationship with Trump that has turned openly hostile.
“I have only begun to fight,” he said in his victory speech.
DeSantis, who is Catholic, played varsity baseball at Yale, later joining the US Navy as a lawyer. He is married with three children, and espouses values held dear by many Republicans.
Trump has gone on the attack, giving him the nickname “Ron De Sanctimonious,” and describing him as an “average” governor.
Polls give a comfortable edge to Trump, but the gap is narrowing.
Former US vice president Mike Pence is another contender. After years of unswerving loyalty to Trump, Pence changed his stance after the mob assault on the US Capitol on January 6 last year.
Pence called the president’s actions that day “reckless” and said they “endangered me and my family.”
Trump had demanded that Pence, a former governor of Indiana, derail Senate certification of Joe Biden’s electoral victory.
Pence refused, gaining the enmity of Trump’s diehard followers, and he is currently winning only about 7 percent of voter intentions, polls show.
The 63-year-old evangelical Christian, fiercely opposed to abortion, seems determined to take the plunge. He has just published a memoir and is touring the country making speeches.
Several Republican Party donors are reportedly ready to support Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin, a former businessman who wrested state leadership from Democrats last year and has employed classic right-wing policies — lower taxes, boosts in police funding — with headline-grabbing measures against transgender people and anti-racism programs in schools.
Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley might be one of the few women to enter the presidential primaries. She was tapped by Trump to be US ambassador to the UN. While she has not broken with Trump, Haley has spoken out against her former boss’ refusal to accept his 2020 election loss.
South Carolina Senator Tim Scott has referred to himself as possibly being the first black Republican president. After his re-election on Tuesday — with a 26-point lead over his rival — he spoke of his grandfather, who voted for former US president Barack Obama.
“I wish he had lived long enough to see perhaps another man of color elected president ... but this time let it be a Republican,” he said.
Maryland Governor Larry Hogan, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie and New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu are also said to be interested in running. As moderates and popular with independents, they are outspoken critics of Trump.
However, in a party that has drifted to the right, their chances seem low.
Several Trump supporters also appear interested, including US Senator Ted Cruz and former US secretary of state and CIA director Mike Pompeo.
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