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DES MOINES — Mike Pence smiled through rain and sleet at the Iowa State Fair as he campaigned for a traditional conservative senator on the ballot this fall — and teased his own potential run in a state that has long since begun the GOP presidential nominating process. “My family and I will do as we have always done, and that is to reflect and pray about where we might serve next,” the former vice president said.
On the same day, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis was on the Pennsylvania battleground campaigning for a far-right gubernatorial candidate. DeSantis recounted his battles with “establishment Republicans” and “the corporate media,” as well as the culture wars in which both have fought with gusto.
Just as DeSantis’ event was getting underway, Donald Trump’s political organization announced its own rally for the “Pennsylvania Trump Ticket” over Labor Day weekend. The candidates he plans to promote are among a slew of polarizing candidates, including more broadly election naysayers and newcomers the former president helped push in the primaries. Some Republicans fear their nominations could cost the GOP crucial seats.
Across the country, potential 2024 GOP presidential candidates are fanning out and stepping up their involvement in the midterms, boosting Republican candidates as they run. They seek to sharpen their political brand and reach new audiences by helping like-minded candidates, who are also potential future endorsers, and visiting early primary states where advisers know their words will get the most attention.
His presence on the court, along with pitches to donors, staff expansion and plans to publish memoirs, underscores widespread interest in the party running for president, or at least keeping the option open. Even at a time when many Republicans say Trump has secured his grip on the GOP and would start as a heavy favorite for the nomination if he runs, the uncertainty surrounding his legal and political challenges, combined with the full list of ambitious Republicans, has been effective. started a preliminary campaign for 2024.
“It’s surprisingly business as usual,” said Republican strategist Bob Heckman, a veteran of presidential campaigns, noting that Republicans are not “shy” or “frozen” to Trump’s repeated suggestions that he might seek a second term in the White House. There are good reasons to make allies now, Heckman said: They may decide not to run the course, but “if you haven’t done the prep work, you can’t take it back.”
The busy trips have highlighted the potential strengths and challenges for the candidates heading into 2024. Pence, who has faced fierce criticism from the 45th president and his allies for his refusal to overturn the defeat Trump’s 2020 election campaign, won over victims at the state fair, but also met with some hostility. “Go home!” a woman shouted as Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) and Pence addressed reporters here in Iowa. In interviews, some Iowans insisted that Pence could have kept Trump in office.
Much of the Republican primary season has revolved around Trump, who has used the intra-party contests to try to dislodge those he holds grudges against and elevate many inexperienced candidates who have bought into his false claims about the 2020 election going to him. be stolen Many races have hinged on which candidate is based primarily on the former president’s divisive positions.
The results have been mixed. Trump failed in his attempt to unseat Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp (R) to certify Biden’s 2020 election victory, but he succeeded in preventing House Republicans who voted to impeach they returned to Congress last year. (Only two of the 10 who cast that vote are running for the general election.)
Trump’s influence will face a new test in the fall, after his endorsements boosted candidates some Republicans believe could complicate the GOP’s push to regain control of Congress. Among those candidates is Mehmet Oz, the famous doctor who is trailing in the polls in the Pennsylvania Senate race. Trump will campaign for Oz and Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano on Sept. 3. Taylor Budowich, a Trump spokesman, touted Trump’s midterm endorsements, saying in a statement that he “continues to reshape the Republican Party with fighters and champions of his America First agenda.” “.
Midterm activism extends far beyond Trump, DeSantis and Pence. Other potential 2024 hopefuls have also been active on the court this summer and have been preparing plans for the fall. Sen. Tim Scott (R.C.) has starred in ads supporting GOP candidates in Iowa and several swing states, all aired by his political action committee. Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has endorsed a long list of candidates through her PAC. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) joined a fundraiser for Grassley the day before the Iowan fundraiser and state fair visit with Pence.
Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R), a centrist Trump critic, was also at the fair and criticized Del. Dan Cox, the GOP nominee to succeed him, calling the Trump-endorsed nominee “crazy.” Hogan’s visit came on the heels of a trip to neighboring Nebraska to support Rep. Don Bacon (R), who has clashed with Trump.
Hogan plans to campaign for Christine Drazan, the Republican nominee for governor in an unusually competitive race in liberal-leaning Oregon, according to advisers to both. Hogan has also been pushing other Republicans targeted by Trump, including moderate Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Kemp.
Invitations to travel have been pouring in for another GOP governor: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, whose victory last year made him a rising star in the party. Youngkin said he is “humbled” by the interest people have in a possible presidential run, but that he hasn’t even “started to make” that decision.
“Our first invitations started coming in the week after he won last year,” said an adviser to Youngkin, who like others interviewed for this story spoke on condition of anonymity to describe private discussions. “We had invitations to probably 20 states.”
His team has heard from Senate candidates, the aide added, but is now focused on the governor’s race, given his limited travel time. She will be headed to Michigan this month by GOP gubernatorial candidate Tudor Dixon at her request, the aide said, and hopes to travel in September and October to more purple and blue states similar to Virginia.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has been reaching out “immediately” to newly nominated GOP congressional candidates to volunteer their advice and offer to go along the way, including in Iowa, according to an aide. Cotton’s presentation to donors has emphasized that strong showings in the early nominating states of Iowa and New Hampshire may be more predictive of success than initial name recognition.
Cotton and others mulling a possible 2024 run have been hurting candidates up and down the ballot in both places, even joining the sheriff and state senator candidates. Cotton’s aide said the main focus is “party building” across the board, but acknowledged the “added benefit” of the bases for 2024.
Strategists agreed that building a reputation in Iowa and New Hampshire is especially important for the many lower-polling candidates seeking a run. National polls have shown Trump dominating a hypothetical GOP vote, with DeSantis in second place and others far behind.
But some Republicans have said they are skeptical that anyone can successfully challenge Trump, no what matters is the work they have done this year. GOP strategist John Thomas, who had been building a political action committee to support a possible DeSantis bid, said those plans are on hold as it looks increasingly likely that the former president will present
Republican pollster Whit Ayres said he groups Republican voters into three categories: About 10 percent who are appalled by Trump, about 40 percent who “would go through a wall of fire for him ” and another 50 percent who are favorable to Trump, and defensive when he has been attacked, but open to other candidates.
That dynamic has put the spotlight on a potential candidate that some in the party say they see as a potential future leader of the movement Trump has built: DeSantis. Strategists and donors said DeSantis is in high demand in this year’s campaign. The governor rose to national prominence as he denounced coronavirus restrictions and vaccine mandates and embraced fights over social issues that animate the Republican base, such as how schools teach children about gender and sexual orientation.
DeSantis has gone after GOP candidates closely aligned with Trump, a pattern that highlights his competitive appeal to the former president’s voters. DeSantis has recently met with Trump-backed candidates in New Mexico, Arizona, Pennsylvania and Ohio, including some of the far-right GOP candidates who have baselessly called for Trump’s election defeat to be overturned or decertified in 2020.
While DeSantis has distanced himself from Trump’s false claims that the election was rigged, he has embraced the GOP’s push for more voting restrictions and this month announced the first arrests by a new police force election in your state.
DeSantis did not mention Trump last Friday in Pennsylvania for Mastriano, who played a leading role in efforts to try to throw out the swing state’s 2020 election results and would have significant power over the 2024 election if wins Hundreds packed a Pittsburgh hotel ballroom as DeSantis touted his nearly four years of conservative victories in Florida, from a surge in GOP voter registration to legislation banning the mandates of vaccines
For 43 minutes, DeSantis summarized his struggles against “prosecutors who refuse to enforce the law” and “woke up” corporations like Disney. He poked fun at the negative media coverage and…