Former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson has announced he’s running for president in 2024, saying he’s ready to distance the party from Donald Trumpjust days after he said the former president should drop out of the race after being indicted.
“I am running because I believe I am the right time for America, the right candidate for our country and its future,” he said.
The former Arkansas governor is the fourth Republican to enter what is expected to be a crowded field of competition for the nomination.
Hutchinson enters after former President Donald Trump, his former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and biotech millionaire Vivek Ramaswamy announced they would be running in the race in 2024.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, 72, says he’s running for president in 2024, offering himself as an alternative to Republicans ready to distance the party from Donald Trump.
Hutchinson enters after former President Trump announced his candidacy months ago. Pictured: Trump meets Hutchinson and Kansas Governor Laura Kelly in 2020
The announcement of Hutchinson’s presidential run comes just days after he said Trump should drop out of the race following his indictment
“I’ve made a decision, and it’s my decision that I’m going to run for President of the United States,” Hutchinson told ABC News during an interview Sunday morning.
He continued, “While the official announcement will be later in April, in Bentonville, I want to make it clear to you, I’m going to be in the competition.”
The reason is that I have been traveling to the country for six months, and I hear people talking about the leadership of our country. I am convinced that people want leaders who appeal to the best of America, not just appeal to our worst instincts.”
The announcement comes just days after the former president was convicted by a Manhattan grand jury in a case involving the payment of $130,000 in hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Trump will deliver his remarks on Tuesday, the same day he is expected to stand trial in New York. An ad from his 2024 campaign indicates Trump will speak from his Mar-a-Lago club in Palm Beach, Florida on April 4 at 8:15 p.m.
Meanwhile, Trump’s motorcade was filmed arriving at Mar-a-Lago Golf Club on Sunday as security ramped up at his residence in Palm Beach, Florida, over the weekend.
The announcement comes just days after the former president was convicted by a Manhattan grand jury in a case involving the payment of $130,000 in hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Meanwhile, Trump’s motorcade was filmed arriving at Mar-a-Lago Golf Club on Sunday as security ramped up at his residence in Palm Beach, Florida over the weekend.
A poll by Team Trump claims he has 51 percent of the Republican vote
A poll by Team Trump claims he has 51 percent of the Republican vote
Trump’s team conducted a full field ballot test of 14 potential Republican candidates on Friday and Saturday — two days after he was impeached.
While Trump and DeSantis came out on top in the latest poll, former Vice President Mike Pence came in third with six percent of the vote.
Nikki Haley finished fourth with four percent as all other candidates had two percent or less each.
Former US Ambassador to the United Nations and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley interacts at the Vision 2024 National Conservative Forum at the Charleston Area Convention Center
Earlier this month, presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called on his fellow candidates — likely to be announced — to condemn the impending indictment against Donald Trump.
Hutchinson, who left office in January after eight years as governor, has stepped up his criticism of the former president in recent months, calling Trump’s presidential candidacy a “worst-case scenario” for Republicans and saying it would likely benefit President Joe Biden’s chances in 2024.
Hutchinson served as the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration under President George W. Bush and was the Undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
He also served as house manager in Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial.
As governor, Hutchinson advocated for a series of income tax cuts as the state’s budget surpluses grew. He also led efforts to eliminate illegal drugs, especially methamphetamine.
He signed many abortion restrictions into law, including a ban on the procedure that went into effect when the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year. However, Hutchinson said he regretted that the measure did not make exceptions for rape or incest.
Hutchinson served as the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration under President George W. Bush and was the Undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Pictured: In March 2002, Hutchinson announced the arrest of drug trafficker Benjamin Arellano Felix.
US Rep. and impeachment chief Asa Hutchinson (R-AZ) briefs reporters outside the US Senate after day five of President Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial in the Senate
Hutchinson drew the ire of Trump and social conservatives last year when he vetoed legislation banning gender-affirming Medicare for children.
The Republican-majority Arkansas legislature overrode Hutchinson’s veto and enacted the ban, which was temporarily blocked by a federal judge.
Trump called Hutchinson a “Reno”—a Republican in name only—for his veto. Hutchinson’s successor, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the former White House press secretary, said she would have signed the legislation.
Hutchinson, who signed other restrictions on transgender youth into law, said Arkansas’ ban went too far and that he would have signed the measure if it had only focused on surgery.
Although he has supported Trump’s policies, Hutchinson has become increasingly critical of the former president’s rhetoric and lies about the 2020 presidential election. He said Trump’s call for an end to parts of the Constitution to overturn the election is harmful to the country.
Hutchinson also criticized Trump for meeting with white nationalist leader Nick Fuentes and rapper Yee, who has praised Adolf Hitler and spewed anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. Hutchinson opposed that meeting with his own background as a United States attorney who prosecuted white supremacists in Arkansas in the 1980s.
Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (R-AK) speaks at Vision ’24 National Conservative Forum March 18, 2023, which aims to provide conservative politicians an opportunity to articulate their vision of the United States ahead of the 2024 election
Hutchinson drew the ire of Trump and social conservatives last year when he vetoed legislation banning gender-affirming Medicare for children.
Hutchinson, an opponent of the federal health care law, after taking office supported retaining Arkansas’ version of the Medicaid expansion. But he defended a working condition of the law that was blocked by a federal judge.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hutchinson has attempted to tackle misinformation about the virus with daily press conferences and a series of town halls he has held across the state with the goal of encouraging people to get vaccinated.
Hutchinson angered opponents of the death penalty in 2017 when he ordered eight executions over a two-week period, scheduling them before one of the state’s lethal injection drugs expired. The state eventually carried out four of the executions.
The former governor is known more for his talking politics than fiery speeches, often flanked by charts and graphs at his press conferences at the state capitol. Instead of picking fights on Twitter, he tweeted Bible verses every Sunday morning.
