It is just over a month since President Joe Biden took office and talks have already begun about the 2024 presidential and 2022 congressional elections.
Mike Pompeo, the former U.S. Secretary of State under the Trump administration, is being viewed as a potential contender in the next presidential election, according to Axios.
The news site reports that Pompeo is “widely considered a potential 2024 presidential contender,” as he is working to keep his name in the headlines.
Pompeo is expected to deliver a speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on Saturday. His speech is titled, “How the Bill of Rights Inspires Us at Home and Across the World.”
Additionally, the former secretary of state is helping to fundraise for House Republicans for the 2022 congressional elections, Axios reports.
The National Republican Congressional Committee sent out a fundraising text in February that read, “It’s Mike Pompeo. The Democrats won’t stand up to China. Will you, Friend? 5X match give to restore a USA First agenda.”
What do the polls say?
A poll by the Politico/Morning Consult, conducted Feb. 14-15, found 53% of those polled said they would vote for former President Donald Trump “if the 2024 Republican primary were being held today.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence was the only other contender who received double digits. Twelve percent said they would vote for him.
Meanwhile, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and Donald Trump Jr. each received 6%. Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) got 4%, as did Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas). Pompeo received 2%.
Haley is also viewed as a potential contender in the 2024 presidential election.
Alex Conant, a former adviser to Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), told The Hill, “It’s a very fine line to walk for a long way between now and the Republican convention in 2024.”
Trump’s grip on the party
Conant, a GOP consultant, also told The Hill:
“Trump might run again, so you have to treat him as a potential competitor. But even if he doesn’t, he wants influence over who the party picks, and loyalty is what he values more than anything else. So it’s hard to build your own identity separate from him while maintaining loyalty and his support.”
A recent Suffolk University/USA TODAY poll showed that 46% of Republican voters would leave the GOP to join a Trump party if he were to create one. Twenty-seven percent said they would not.
Half of those polled also believe the Republican Party should be “more loyal to Trump.” The poll was conducted Feb. 15-19 with 1,000 Trump voters.
Axios reported this week that Trump plans to use his speech at CPAC on Sunday to push the message that he is Republicans’ “presumptive 2024 nominee,” citing top Trump allies. “I may not have Twitter or the Oval Office, but I’m still in charge,” reportedly is the message he plans to push.
Romney recently told reporters, “President Trump and populism are very much in the great majority of our party, and people like myself, who are more traditional conservatives, are a very small minority.”
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is urging Trump to run in 2024 and said on Twitter, “The Establishment GOP wants to go back to forever wars, bad trade deals, and caravans crashing across our borders. We’re not going back.”