The 2024 GOP Primary Heats Up
As of June 2023, the 2024 GOP is heating up as the Republican party gears up to select its nominee for the 2024 Presidential Election. The field of candidates is shaping up to be a mix of familiar faces and newcomers with various political backgrounds and ideologies.
Former President Donald Trump - despite legal troubles - remains a polling favorite and a dominant figure in the party. This primary will allow for a comprehensive understanding of how much his polarizing and controversial behavior and actions have fragmented the party and how much he has alienated moderate and independent voters.
Although this strategy has gained Trump a cult following, it's also allowed room for a challenger with the same ideologies but a more tempered disposition to arrive on the scene by the name of Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis has emerged as a top contender for the nomination, building on his popularity among Trump supporters and his record of conservative policies. Similarly to Trump, DeSantis has been a vocal critic of the Biden administration, but where the two men differ is in their handling of the COVID-19 Pandemic, which gained DeSantis national attention for his unprecedented stance in keeping the state of Florida as one of the only fully open states during the ordeal.
Other candidates, such as former South Carolina Governor and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott, former Arizona Governor Asa Hutchinson, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, seek to offer a more moderate alternative to Republican voters.
Additional longshot candidates include Vivek Ramaswamy and former Vice President Mike Pence. Ramaswamy represents a similar track to Andrew Yang of the 2020 Democratic Primary as a young entrepreneurial face with some fringe ideas, such as raising the voting age to 21 barring a civics test or military service. Pence, to his credit, represents modern conservative values well. Still, Trump's January 6th declaration to "Hang Mike Pence" may as well have been the death knell to any future political ambitions if for nothing else the absurdity of it.
The clock is ticking for the first debate in August, and a wide GOP field seems to only be aiding Trump, just as it did in 2016.