A way too early look at the 2024 presidential contenders
Ryan King
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Now that the midterm elections have wrapped up, a political cold war is brewing for the next major electoral tussle on the horizon: the 2024 presidential race.
Former President Donald Trump preempted his rivals by becoming the first heavyweight contender to enter the race in November, although his campaign has been largely idle in the public eye since its debut. However, Trump’s early strike has expedited the timeline for others considering jumping into the fray.
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“The fact that President Trump has already announced accelerates everyone’s time frame. So the first quarter of next year, you either need to be in or out,” said Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AK), who is mulling a presidential bid.
Here is an early rundown of speculated 2024 hopefuls.
Republicans
Donald Trump
Already in the race, Trump has seemingly weathered a steady stream of mishaps and political fumbles since his campaign announcement. Starting with the lackluster GOP midterm outing that failed to manifest tailwinds he expected to have during his launch, Trump quickly ran into hot water shortly after by having dinner with Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West, and Nick Fuentes, both of whom have promoted antisemitism.
From there, he raised eyebrows by floating the idea of “termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution,” to overturn his 2020 defeat and then baffled even some of his most fervent supporters by rolling out non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. Those snags coupled with rising legal troubles have seemingly emboldened Republicans eyeing a challenge against him despite his robust support in polling.
Ron DeSantis
Widely polled as the top possible challenger to Trump, DeSantis has been coy in public about his plans for 2024. Trump has already directed political fire his way, but the Florida governor has largely held back from responding, with DeSantis’s advisers reportedly believing it best to wait until he reaches a decision on running in the spring before sparring with Trump.
Mike Pence
Since departing the White House, Pence has made trips to critical battleground states such as Iowa and New Hampshire. Despite being Trump’s wingman for four years, he has contended that “we’ll have better choices” than his old boss and explained that he’s giving a 2024 stint “prayerful consideration.”
Mike Pompeo
Pompeo has begun taking veiled jabs at Trump, venting that he was “tired of losing” and has said his 2024 decision will come in the spring. He has run book advertisements in key states such as South Carolina, Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire.
Chris Christie
Nearly a decade ago, Christie was a rising GOP star, but he skipped out on the 2012 election before running unsuccessfully in 2016. He has kept the door open to 2024.
Tim Scott
Scott sailed to a massive reelection victory in the midterm elections and has dropped serious hints about a 2024 run, saying he wished his grandfather “lived long enough to see perhaps another man of color elected president of the United States, but this time let it be a Republican.”
Nikki Haley
Throughout the midterm elections, Haley stumped for candidates in critical races, such as Herschel Walker in Georgia. As a former governor and United Nations ambassador, she has executive and foreign policy experience on her resume. She says she is now looking at 2024 in a “serious way” and has teased that she has “never lost an election, and I’m not gonna start now.”
Asa Hutchinson
Often blunt with his assessments of Trump, Hutchinson has actively courted speculation of a 2024 run and revealed that he plans to make a decision in the first quarter of 2023. Hutchinson has blasted a Trump 2024 ticket as the “worst case” scenario for Republicans in the next election.
Glenn Youngkin
Republicans’ ill-fated hopes of a red wave in 2022 were partly fueled by Youngkin’s stunning off-year victory in Virginia, which has leaned Democratic in recent years. Youngkin crisscrossed the country in 2022, going to bat for GOP candidates while making inroads in critical primary states.
Other notable mentions
Many other names have been floated as Republican contenders, including Sens. Ted Cruz (R-TX), Rick Scott (R-FL), Marco Rubio (R-FL), and Josh Hawley (R-MO), as well as Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, and outgoing Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY).
Additionally, some who have enjoyed 2024 rumblings such as Sens. Tom Cotton (R-AR) and Mitt Romney (R-UT) have seemingly bowed out.
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Democrats
Joe Biden
Top-tier Democrats are seemingly in stasis circa 2024, awaiting Biden’s decision to run for a second term. The president has given a lukewarm commitment, declaring his “intention” to run while stopping short of going all in just yet.
Recently, he backed a move to elevate South Carolina, which served as his 2020 lifeline, to the No. 1 primary state, making the landscape favorable to him. He would be 82 years old during a second inauguration and 86 at the end of a second term. Some Democratic heavyweights have pinned their prospective bids on whether or not Biden runs in 2024.
Bernie Sanders
Having finished in second place during the past two Democratic primaries, Sanders will likely take a “hard look” at running if Biden doesn’t go for it, according to an adviser. Sanders has long been a favorite among progressives and has amplified socialism.
Kamala Harris
The first female vice president in U.S. history, Harris spent about 85 minutes serving as acting president while Biden underwent a colonoscopy last year. But she faces a significant hurdle to overcome if she were to vie for the real thing: She’s more unpopular than Biden in many polls. A recent CNN poll found that she had a 32% favorable rating compared to Biden’s 42%.
Pete Buttigieg
With sharp oratory skills, Buttigieg emerged from obscurity as a breakout star in the 2020 election cycle. Serving as the transportation secretary, Buttigieg has been tight-lipped about any future presidential aspirations, but that has not stopped speculation from swirling.
Gavin Newsom
Since fending off a recall effort, Newsom has drawn applause from progressives for a raft of actions on hot-button issues such as gun control, climate change, healthcare, abortion, and more. However, the California governor has been adamant that he’s “all in” on Biden in 2024.
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Other notable mentions
Additional names from Democrats thrown around include Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker, and Colorado Gov. Jared Polis.