The 2024 presidential primaries are still nearly a year out, but the race for the White House is already underway.
Former President Trump became the first candidate to jump into the contest when he announced in November that he would seek to reclaim his old job. Trump’s former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley launched a challenge to her one-time boss three months later, underscoring a growing willingness within the GOP to confront Trump.
They likely won’t be the only two Republicans in the race. A long list of prospective contenders are weighing presidential bids, including former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, among others.
For now, at least, Trump still appears to be the front-runner, though early polling shows DeSantis posing a serious threat to the former president’s 2024 ambitions.
The Democratic field is still empty, though President Biden has signaled that he plans to seek a second term in the White House in 2024. Those plans have rankled some in the party, who argue that Biden is too old to run for reelection.
Democrats
Joe Biden
After last year’s midterm elections, President Biden said he “intended” to seek another term. (AP)
After last year’s midterm elections, Biden said that he “intended” to seek another term and is believed to be preparing for a reelection campaign, though he hasn’t made an official decision.
For now, at least, all signs point to Biden seeking a second term. After all, he is the incumbent president.
If and when he launches his 2024 bid, however, Biden is expected to face at least some skepticism from Democrats. A poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released earlier this month found that just 37 percent of Democratic voters want Biden to run for reelection.
Republicans
Donald Trump
Former President Donald Trump announced his third bid for the White House only one week after the 2022 midterms. (AP)
Trump launched his third bid for the White House just a week after the 2022 midterm elections, making him the first major candidate out of the gate.
His campaign got off to a relatively sleepy start. Trump didn’t make his first true campaign swings until late January, when he stopped in New Hampshire and South Carolina, two early primary states that handed Trump some of his first wins in the 2016 nominating contest.
While he remains the de facto front-runner in the GOP primary, there’s a growing contingent of Republicans who are hoping to move on from the former president in 2024. Trump’s top challenger appears to be DeSantis. Early polling shows him leading Trump in a hypothetical head-to-head match-up, though Trump still has the edge in a more crowded field.
Still, there’s wavering confidence in Trump among many Republicans, especially after the party’s lackluster performance in the 2022 midterms. Those elections saw Democrats overperform in an otherwise unfavorable political environment, while several of Trump’s highest-profile endorsed candidates lost their races.
Nikki Haley
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley became the first Republican to challenge former President Trump for the nomination, launching her campaign on Feb. 14. (AP)
Haley, a former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador, launched her presidential campaign on Feb. 14, becoming the first Republican to challenge Trump for the nomination.
Haley had been seen for years as a prospective White House candidate. In announcing her campaign, she pitched her candidacy as an opportunity to install a “new generation of leadership” at the helm of the Republican Party.
But there are also lingering questions about whether she can truly compete in the 2024 primary, especially against Republican heavyweights like Trump and DeSantis. Early polling shows her support hovering in the single digits.
Her candidacy was also met with criticism from both Trump and anti-Trump Republicans. An outside group aligned with the former president issued a statement after Haley’s announcement criticizing her as an opportunist and career politician.
At the same time, the anti-Trump Republican group, The Lincoln Project, dubbed her “a candidate with more ambition than principles,” noting how she fell in line with Trump after previously criticizing him.
