The expansion of the Republican primary field this week will result in two of Donald Trump’s most direct challenges yet to his leadership.
This could also increase Trump’s chances to win another GOP presidential race.
The former New Jersey governor will be the first to speak. Chris Christie was a Trump ally in the past, but now plans to run a campaign that is a direct challenge against him. He will launch his second run for the presidency on Tuesday at a New Hampshire Town Hall.
The day after, Mike Pence, the former vice president who ran with Trump on two tickets, , will also announce his bid. The same day that North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is also set to launch his campaign .
has doubts about Florida Governor. Ron DeSantis, who has consistently been ranked No. Ron DeSantis — consistently the No. 2 challenger after Trump — could be the one to defeat him.
Many Republicans believe that the more people who enter the race, Trump will benefit.
Former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory is a Republican, NBC News contributor, and adviser to No Labels. This group, which is considering backing a third party ticket, has said that the more Trump gets, the better.
He said: “I believe there’s a lane for the other cars, but now it may be so divided [that] [it is] one digit or slightly double digits [to find out who gets this].” “I think they’ll all try to find it.”
Another potential candidate pulled out of the race this week. He said he did not want to make it harder for Trump to win. New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (a Republican) wrote in an Washington Post opinion piece Monday that “the stakes are too great for a crowded race to give the nomination to a single candidate who receives only 35 percent of votes, and I’ll help to ensure this doesn’t happen.”
He added, “We cannot be complacent. Candidates should not enter this race in order to promote a vanity campaign or sell books, or to audition for Donald Trump’s Vice President.”
Pence’s campaign appears to be the most important on the surface. Since Vice President John Nance Garner a Democrat challenged President Franklin Roosevelt, in 1940, vice presidents have never run against their president. Pence’s candidacy implies to GOP primary voters Trump does not deserve another four years in office.
Pence’s most pointed rebuke is to Trump’s belief that the 2020 presidential elections were stolen from him. He refused to comply with Trump’s attempt to stop the count of electoral votes in order to certify the result on Jan. 6, 2021. The pro-Trump mob which sacked the U.S. Capitol was heard chanting, “Hang MikePence.”
Pence has distanced himself from Trump in other policy areas, but his criticism of him has been relatively muted.
Christie is not going to be a slouch.
Christie’s entire opening remarks at a town hall meeting in New Hampshire in April were aimed at slamming Trump, after he announced in 2016 that he supported Trump, having dropped out of his presidential campaign in 2016.
Christie stated that “tonight is the start of the case against Donald Trump.” You can’t beat someone just by closing your eyelids, clicking your heels three times, and saying ‘there’s no other place like home’.
Barbara Comstock (R-Va.), a former Virginia state representative, said Christie’s campaign is more important, “because it will allow him to speak truth about Trump and his threat to the democracy, country, and party.”
Comstock, a Republican who is anti-Trump, said that Pence could be used to prove Christie’s crimes, the things Pence wouldn’t say. He added that the candidates should not agree to the Republican National Committee’s loyalty pledge to back the eventual nominee , which the party announced on Friday, as one of the requirements for getting onto the stage of the first primary debate this summer.
Pence is a long-time supporter of social conservatives and , but he’s expected to appeal to the religious right in Iowa where evangelical voters are a significant part of the electorate. Christie is aiming to appeal to voters who are wary of Trump’s temperament, while using New Hampshire to launch his campaign.
However, both candidates seem to be in need of a miracle. RealClearPolitics’ average from several primary presidential surveys places Trump with more than 53%. DeSantis is close behind, at around 22%. Pence has just 3.8% of the vote, and Christie is even further behind with 1%.
Trump said, “That is a good thing” at his town hall last week with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
He added: “I don’t believe it matters.”
Trump’s campaign spokesperson said that the aspirants who will be announced soon were not bad news for Trump, but rather for DeSantis.
The spokesperson stated that “Ron DeSanctimonious’ inability to campaign and the fact that his opponents have smelt blood in the water” are the reasons for the additions. The race for second is about to heat-up!
Jess Szymanski a spokesperson of the pro-DeSantis Super PAC Never Back Down said that the primary contest was “a two-man battle between Governor DeSantis (and Trump) — with momentum growing behind the Governor, and the former president running scared.”
Pence and Christie’s arrivals didn’t worry other campaign aides like they did Trump and DeSantis.
When asked how the rival bids would impact the primary campaign, an aide of a competing campaign replied “No Impact”.
The charges that Trump may face in Washington, D.C., , where a grand juror who has been hearing evidence as part of the investigation into his handling of classified information is scheduled to meet this coming week, could be more significant.
Barry Bennett, former Trump adviser, said that the growing number of GOP candidates is a sign. “More people are convinced that Trump will not be able to weather the storm.”
He added that “our party would have what Reagan called a ‘time for choosing’ if this became reality.”
