Report: Trump could face a contested primary in 2024

Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis
(Image credit: Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

At least 15 Republicans are laying the groundwork for a 2024 presidential bid, and some of them might enter the race even if former President Trump runs, The Washington Post reports.

Candidates involved in what the Post calls the "shadow campaign" for the 2024 nomination are meeting with donors, making trips to Iowa and New Hampshire, and delivering speeches setting out their visions for the party's future.

Per the Post, "[i]nterviews with over a dozen GOP operatives" suggest that Trump is "not clearing the field" despite numerous hints that he plans to make another bid for the White House. Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio predicted that "[t]hey're all going to run."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Members of Trump's own administration — including former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — all appear to be mulling 2024 runs.

So are a pair of blue-state governors — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie — who have a more moderate, pre-Trumpian vision for the GOP. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has also suggested the GOP should move on from Trump. Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.) could fit in this category as well, having been floated by former Labor Secretary Robert Reich as "possibly … the best president of the United States for the perilous time we're entering."

Still others — including Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida — have been positioning themselves to run on a vision of Trumpism without Trump.

Grayson Quay

Grayson Quay was the weekend editor at TheWeek.com. His writing has also been published in National Review, the Pittsburgh Post-GazetteModern AgeThe American ConservativeThe Spectator World, and other outlets. Grayson earned his M.A. from Georgetown University in 2019.