Besides President Trump, the GOP 2024 presidential primary includes:
- Nikki Haley
- Asa Hutchinson
- Larry Elder
- Vivek Ramaswamy
- Tim Scott
- Perry Johnson
Other notable names, including Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence, haven’t officially stated their intentions.
One GOP governor has decided to sit out of this race.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced he will not run for president.
Youngkin spoke to The Wall Street Journal’s Gerard Baker at the Milken Institute in Los Angeles and answered “no” when asked about running for president.
“I’m going to be working in Virginia this year,” Youngkin said.
Politico reported:
The first-term governor had been seen as a potential addition to the growing Republican field.
Instead, Youngkin said he was concentrating on the legislative elections in Virginia.
“I want to hold our House, and I’d like to flip our Senate. And I think we’re doing a really good job in Virginia, and I think this is a chance to bring that to voters,” he told Baker, adding that he looked forward to helping those legislators in bringing “common-sense solutions to bear” on difficult problems.
Youngkin achieved national prominence when he won the Virginia gubernatorial race in 2021, offering a path forward for Republicans eager to find a way to win in states that President Joe Biden had captured the year before.
Later Monday, Youngkin spoke at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif., about the future of the GOP.
However, NBC News suggested Youngkin’s answer only referred to launching a bid ‘this year.’
That doesn’t make any sense.
The first GOP presidential primary debate will be held in Milwaukee in August 2023.
Comments from Youngkin’s aides apparently added to the confusion.
From NBC News:
During a Q&A session at an event in California hosted by the Milken Institute, an economic think tank, Youngkin, a Republican, responded “no” when he was asked whether he had plans to get out on the presidential campaign trail later “this year.” His aides later told NBC News that his response was specifically about this year, not the 2024 presidential race.
“I haven’t written a book, and I’m not in Iowa. I’m spending time representing Virginia this year,” Youngkin said when he was pressed by the moderator, Wall Street Journal editor-at-large Gerard Baker, at Monday’s event.
In response to a request for comment, a spokesperson said Youngkin he was commenting on his 2023 plans.
“I would refer you to the governor’s original comments and the question, which directly asked about this year,” Macaulay Porter said in an email.
Other Youngkin aides said not to count Youngkin out for 2024 just yet.
An aide said the moderator “was clearly asking about this year, and the governor was answering with that in mind.”
Another aide emphasized that Youngkin, who is term-limited as governor, has said many times that he is “focused only on Virginia through the elections.”
Youngkin would be a longshot, so I highly doubt we see the Virginia governor throwing his hat in the race, regardless of the alleged confusing comments made by some of his aides.
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