Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan host summit with 2024 hopefuls Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, Chris Christie and Doug Burgum WITHOUT DeSantis and Ramaswamy
- Senator Mitt Romney and former Speaker of the House of Representatives Paul Ryan host a summit aimed at finding an alternative to Trump
- Participants in the two-day closed-door summit include Nikki Haley, Mike Pence, Chris Christie and Doug Burgum
- Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who is in the top five in polls, said summits like the E2 with Romney and Ryan are ‘wrong with the fractured Republican Party’
The two men who ran for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 are holding a behind-closed-doors event with a pair of 2024 candidates — but noticeably absent from the lineup are Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Senator Mitt Romney and his former running mate Paul Ryan are hosting the two-day summit in Park City, Utah, with the aim of finding an alternative to Donald Trump winning the Republican nomination next year.
The candidates at the forum Tuesday and Wednesday include former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
Other speakers include Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and former Attorney General Bill Barr.
Ryan said on CNBC on Tuesday that all “unindicted” candidates are welcome.
Senator Mitt Romney (right) and former House Speaker Paul Ryan (left), who were the Republican presidential nominee together in 2012, are hosting their 11th annual summit in Utah this week.
The main focus this year is finding – and ultimately financing – an alternative candidate to Trump
While Haley continues to strive for the top of the pack, the other three candidates are still considered longshots.
The E2 Summit, which is taking place for the eleventh time this year, focuses mainly on discussions on foreign policy, technology and business.
The annual meeting, however, is a powerful gathering of aligned and well-connected Republicans who want to find — and ultimately fund — an alternative to Trump.
Summit maestro Spencer Zwick said those organizing and attending the summit do not accept the premise that former President Donald Trump will automatically be the nominee in 2024.
‘(They) don’t just accept that Donald Trump is the nominee’ he told Axios.
“That’s not in their DNA,” Zwick added. “They are genuinely interested in a candidate they can get excited about and support.”
Trump is by far the highest-scoring GOP candidate and is believed to ultimately clinch the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential election, as none of the other eleven candidates in the race are close to closing the gap.
Participants in the two-day closed-door summit include ex-UN Ambassador Nikki Haley (left) and former Vice President Mike Pence (right)
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who consistently polls the top five candidates, said summits like the E2 with Romney and Ryan are ‘wrong with the fractured Republican Party’
For a time, DeSantis had an early lead against the rest of the field, with many thinking he was the only one who might give Trump a run for his money. But in recent months his poll numbers have fallen, with some polls placing him as high as fifth.
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is not happy with the lack of invitations to Romney and Ryan’s summit.
“This is a radical idea: Voters should decide who the nominee is, instead of Super PACs or mega-donor conferences behind closed doors,” he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
He added, “This epitomizes everything that is wrong with the broken Republican Party.”
