Wednesday 16 November 2022 03:05 AM Republicans in line to take on Trump in 2024: Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence head ... trends now
Donald Trump is once again running for president, setting off the 2024 campaign cycle with a flourish even before the last ballots of the 2022 election have been counted.
The former president announced his intent to run for the 2024 GOP nomination on Tuesday night in a lavish reception at his Mar-a-Lago retreat with invited guests, lawmakers and members of the press.
But while Trump lays out his campaign trail at his Florida estate, his polarizing status even within his own party has election-watchers buzzing about who in the Republican Party would step up to challenge him.
Furthermore, a poor GOP performance in the midterms has many establishment figures pointing the finger at Trump for endorsing fringe-right candidates against moderate opponents in Republican primaries all over the country.
DailyMail.com has compiled a list of eight likely Republican 2024 candidates who could potentially challenge Trump for leadership of the party in 2024.
Donald Trump (pictured on Election Day) is running for president again, he said at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday night
Mike Pence: Former VP who has distanced himself from Trump and said there were 'better choices' for 2024
Mike Pence said during an interview on ABC News on Monday night that he was giving a 2024 bid 'prayerful consideration'
Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, told ABC News in a Monday night interview that there were 'better choices' than his old running mate in 2024 and that he was giving his own White House bid 'prayerful consideration.'
But he demurred when asked about his odds of beating Trump in a primary, emphasizing that it would be up to the voters.
Still, Pence has dropped numerous hints that he's surveying the 2024 field. Pence also blasted Trump for his conduct on January 6, calling the angry tweets he published while his supporters were storming the US Capitol 'reckless.'
Asked whether he'd support Trump in 2024 during a speech at Georgetown University last month, Pence said: 'There might be somebody else I'd prefer more.'
He's also addressing American voters directly in a CNN town hall on Wednesday night.
Early GOP voters polls, however, indicate that there may not be enough support for Pence. Most surveys show the ex-veep trailing Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Ron DeSantis: The Republican's rising star after his emphatic Florida win - who is already in a war of words with Trump
Ron DeSantis cruised to a commanding victory last Tuesday, winning a second term against House Democratic Rep. Charlie Crist despite only a narrow victory for the Tallahassee governor's mansion in 2018.
Overall, his state of Florida saw Republicans over-perform compared to the rest of the country - and some pundits are crediting DeSantis' influence on the GOP.
DeSantis has embraced Trump's 'America First,' combative style of politics that's seen him and his deputies make headline for clashes with the Biden administration, LGBTQ activists and the press.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who won re-election in a landslide last Tuesday, is widely seen as a potential 2024 frontrunner
But mainstream Republicans also see him as a more sanitized and calculated version of the former president, able to appeal to Trump's MAGA base while not turning off moderates in the party and independent voters. At 44, he's also more than three decades younger than Trump.
DeSantis has landed at a close second to Trump in early Republican primary polls, and even overtakes him in some smaller-scale state surveys.
He also has refused to rule out his own 2024 bid, even if it means challenging Trump - much to the former president's fury.
Trump reluctantly endorsed DeSantis' re-election bid on the Sunday before Election Day after being publicly called out for mocking him as 'Ron DeSanctimonious' the night before.
Nikki Haley: Former South Carolina Governor who was one of first to criticize Trump after January 6
Before becoming the Trump administration's United Nations ambassador, Nikki Haley was seen as a rising GOP star in her own right.
Nikki Haley has said she would not challenge Trump for the presidency but has since dropped hints that she's at least considering it
Haley, whose parents are originally from India, was the first female Asian American governor and the first woman elected to South Carolina's governors mansion.
She was among the first Republican officials and former Trump officials to criticize him in the wake of the US Capitol riot, though much of that has since dissipated.
Haley said in April 2021 during a press conference at South Carolina State University that she would support Trump if he ran in 2024 and would not run against him.
But lately the former UN ambassador has been dropping hints of her possible White House ambitions once again.
If President Joe Biden signs an Iran Nuclear Deal-type agreement, she told a crowd at Christians United for Israel's (CUFI) Washington Summit in July 2022, 'I'll make you a promise: The next president will shred it on her first day in office.'
She spoke out against Trump with action rather than words in late September when Haley endorsed Colorado Senate candidate Joe O'Dea, who was running an anti-Trump GOP platform and pledged to 'actively' campaign against him in 2024. O'Dea wound up losing to incumbent Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet.
Mike Pompeo: Trump Cabinet official and foreign policy heavyweight who has defended his old boss... until now
Another former Trump Cabinet official, ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, also appears to be putting the feelers out for his own presidential bid.
He's long avoided weighing in on Trump personally and has defended his White House record whenever asked by the press, but a pair of recent tweets fired off by Pompeo appear to be veiled criticisms of his old boss.
Another former Trump Cabinet official, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is also reportedly considering a run
'Conservatives are elected when we deliver. Not
