A guide to the Republicans running for president so far
The first Republican primary debate won’t occur until August. The first primaries and caucuses won’t occur until early next year.
But the 2024 presidential primary campaign is well underway.
There’s a growing field of declared candidates who will begin traveling around early primary states, appearing in interviews and jockeying for attention. Super PACs aligned with their interests are already doing battle on the airwaves.
Here are the currently declared Republican presidential candidates, sorted by their place in the most recent CNN poll of the potential GOP primary electorate.
Donald Trump
Announced campaign: November 2022
The divisive former president is the prohibitive Republican frontrunner despite his efforts to overturn the 2020 election he lost. The primary is just getting going and there won’t be any voting until early 2024, but Trump has worked hard to kneecap his top current rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
A major complication for Trump is his legal uncertainty. His criminal trial in New York for alleged involvement in a hush-money payment scheme before the 2016 election will get underway in tandem with voting in the 2024 primary.
He could face additional charges, both at the federal level and in Fulton County, Georgia. But those investigations have been ongoing for years now, and it’s not clear any allegations will hurt his strength among many Republican voters.
Ron DeSantis
Announcing campaign: Wednesday on Twitter
While Trump and his supporters got to work hammering DeSantis with TV ads, the Florida governor was at work building an argument in his home state.
Riding high from an overwhelming reelection victory in 2022, DeSantis used a GOP majority in the Florida legislature to enact measures related to curbing access to abortion, ending educational diversity initiatives, curbing LGBTQ rights and more.
While he lacks Trump’s baggage on the legal front, DeSantis also lacks Trump’s personality. Plus, his standoff with Disney over a bill to limit when sexual orientation and gender identity can be discussed in schools has not gone as DeSantis might have planned.
Nikki Haley
Announced campaign: February 2023
Haley has a stellar resume. Elected governor of a Southern state and selected as Trump’s first ambassador to the United Nations, she would be the first woman and first non-White Republican nominee if she can somehow emerge with the nomination.
Much younger than Trump or President Joe Biden, Haley has made age a centerpiece of her campaign and argued for some kind of age-based competency test – an interesting idea in terms of scoring points against older candidates, but also a potential turnoff for primary voters in a party that skews older.
Stay tuned: CNN will host a town hall with Haley on June 4 in Iowa.
Tim Scott
Announced campaign: May 2023
The South Carolina senator is the only Black Republican in the US Senate. He has built the rarity of his biography to argue he disrupts the narrative of American politics.
Although appealing to conservatives, Scott has a record of actually working across party lines on police reform and more. But Trump, at least, has not viewed him as a threat. The former president, who has mercilessly attacked DeSantis, congratulated Scott on entering the race.
Vivek Ramaswamy
Vivek Ramaswamy speaks during the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition Spring Kick-Off in April 2023. - Charlie Neibergall/AP/FILE
Announced campaign: February 2023
A biotech and health care entrepreneur who also writes books opposing corporate “wokeism” and identity politics, Ramaswamy is a long-shot candidate unknown by most Americans.
RELATED: Ramaswamy would raise the voting age to 25
Asa Hutchison
Announced campaign: April 2023
The former Arkansas governor and congressman announced his campaign arguing against isolationism and for civility in campaigning. Those messages have not yet caught on in polling.
RELATED: Hutchinson promises to be Trump alternative
Larry Elder
Larry Elder in 2021, when he was running unsuccessfully for governor of California. - Mario Tama/Getty Images
Announced campaign: April 2023
The conservative talk radio host has never held elective office, but he was the top Republican vote-getter in the unsuccessful 2021 effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
More to come
There are other Republicans considering campaigns. Former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum also register in the single digits in CNN’s most recent poll.
Polling shows Trump over DeSantis at this very early moment
DeSantis (26%) is a distant second to Trump (53%), according to the new CNN poll conducted nationally by SSRS of Republican and Republican-leaning voters released Wednesday.
Both Pence and Haley got 6% support as the top pick.
Who could the GOP electorate support? Not support?
There are some interesting points as you drill into that polling data, as CNN’s political director David Chalian explained on “Inside Politics.”
“We asked people, in addition to your first choice, who would you be open to supporting in this race,” Chalian said.
The results – current top choice plus who they would consider supporting – are a bit different:
DeSantis: 85%.
Trump: 84%.
Haley: 61%.
Scott: 60%.
Pence: 54%.
That’s good news for those candidates, Chalian argued. It’s bad news, on the flip side, for people who a majority of Republican and Republican-leaning voters said they would not support:
Christie: 60% would not support.
Hutchinson: 55%.
Sununu: 55%.
Note that those top three in the “would not support” list – of whom only Hutchinson has declared an official run – are the more moderate voices in the party.
Look at the movement
Chalian also looked at the trajectory of candidates in the polling numbers.
Trump has gained, from 40% support in the potential GOP primary electorate in March to 53% now.
DeSantis, before he formally declared his campaign, has fallen, from 36% support in March to 26% now.
That could mean the Republican race will ultimately be a test of who can take on Trump.
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