Sources Say Trump Will Launch a 2024 Presidential Campaign After Midterm Elections: Report
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Kamil Krzaczynski/Getty Images President Donald Trump speaks during a rally in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Donald Trump is reportedly planning to announce his next run for the presidency once the midterm elections have come and gone.
The Associated Press reports that aides to the former president are "making quiet preparations for a 2024 presidential campaign" — and that it could come soon after Tuesday's elections, when Trump could "capitalize on expected Republican wins to propel himself toward becoming the front-runner for his party's nomination."
Trump's former chief of staff Reince Priebus told the outlet he was "95%" sure that Trump would run, noting: "The real question is are other big challengers going to run? If President Trump runs, he will be very difficult for any Republican to defeat."
The AP further reports that an announcement could come as soon as "the two-week stretch after the Nov. 8 midterms," and that "discussions are underway about potential venues and dates for a formal announcement."
Trump — who lost in the presidential race in 2020 but has since falsely claimed it was fraudulent — has openly flirted with the idea of running a third time, and said that he would not select former Vice President Mike Pence as his running mate again, telling the Washington Examiner in a September interview, "I don't think the people would accept it."
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Shortly after he held his first post-presidential rally in June, he told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he had already made up his mind about whether or not he will run — though he didn't elaborate on what that decision was.
He made a similar comment to New York magazine earlier this year, saying, "Well, in my own mind, I've already made that decision, so nothing factors in anymore."
"I would say my big decision will be whether I go before or after," he told reporter Olivia Nuzzi. "You understand what that means?"
Asked if he was referring to the upcoming midterm elections in November, Trump replied affirmatively. "Midterms," he said. "Do I go before or after? That will be my big decision."
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A divisive figure nationally, 76-year-old Trump remains wildly popular with GOP voters and came out on top of a Republican nomination poll conducted at the CPAC gathering in August 2021, getting 70% of the ballots, according to Fox News.
That popularity hasn't stopped other Republicans from mulling runs of their own.
Pence himself is said to be planning a run for higher office, as is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has made a national name for himself in recent years but told reporters last year that a White House bid was not on his radar.
"I just do my job and we work hard … I hear all this stuff and honestly it's nonsense," he said at the time.
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Trump — who made history as the first president to be impeached twice while in office — is currently facing a large number of legal issues and being investigated at the federal and state level (in both criminal and civil cases) for a variety of allegations linked to presidential records, the 2020 election and the Trump Organization.
