- Senator Josh Hawley will not run for president in 2024, the Republican lawmaker told Insider on Tuesday.
- His recent actions – fiery speeches, a new book and strong defense of President Donald Trump – gave the impression that he was starting a test for the White House.
- The 2024 GOP camp is effectively frozen until Trump publicly announces whether he will attempt a second term or withdraw.
- Visit the Business Insider home page for more stories
Senator Josh Hawley, the Missouri Republican who led efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, said he would not launch a White House candidacy in 2024.
“No, I’m not running,” Hawley told Insider in a brief interview in the hall on Tuesday at the United States Capitol before entering the elevator. He didn’t elaborate.
The tough first-term senator appeared to be keeping an eye on the Oval Office, with a new book to be released in May by a conservative publisher, after being dismissed by Simon & Schuster. His national profile has increased through fiery speeches and loyalty to now former President Donald Trump.
But Hawley, a fast-growing 41-year-old who also served as Missouri’s attorney general, also drew the ire of Republicans and Democrats. Some have even called for his resignation from his leadership role in then President Donald Trump’s attempt to secure a second term despite losing last November’s presidential election.
Hawley led the Senate charge of challenging the Electoral College’s vote count that would confirm President Joe Biden’s victory. Hawley’s repeated false claims of widespread electoral fraud in the 2020 election helped to inspire an angry mob of Trump supporters to violently attack the Capitol on January 6 as they tried to disrupt the vote counting process.
A few hours before Trump supporters broke through police barricades and sacked the Capitol, a photograph went viral of the senator outside the historic building raising his fist at them in a sign of support.
Read More: 7 Democratic senators call for ethics investigation in Cruz and Hawley to determine whether their objections to the polling place contributed to the siege of the Capitol
Hawley is one of several Republicans who are exploring a presidential race in 2024. Insider in December ranked him 8th among potential candidates for the next round of presidential elections. Of course, 2024 is still a long way off and gives Hawley enough time to change his mind, as many politicians do.
But the GOP field is now frozen until it is clear what Trump plans to do.
If Trump decided to try a second term, he would enter the Republican presidential primaries as the favorite and make it difficult for any other Republican to win the primaries.
Trump’s general popularity has dropped to historic lows, but he remains very much loved in the Republican Party, and in November he received the most votes for an incumbent U.S. President.
Then-Senate candidate Josh Hawley greets a supporter at a rally in Springfield, Missouri on September 21, 2018.
Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images
Frozen GOP field 2024
The prospect of a Trump 2024 race forces Republicans to dance carefully.
On the one hand, some of the possible White House candidates will try to court the more than 74 million people who voted for Trump in November. On the other hand, some will try to make their own way and prepare to jump if Trump doesn’t run.
When Insider asked Hawley if he thought Trump should step aside so that other Republicans could publicize his presidential ambitions and lay the groundwork for a campaign, he replied, “I don’t know, you would have to ask them. Ask my colleagues. “
Another hopeful potential of the Republican Party, Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, hesitated when asked about his plans for 2024. Rubio ran for president against Trump, but failed during the 2016 Republican primaries.
“I’m running for the Senate in 2022. I didn’t think beyond that,” Rubio told Insider on Tuesday at Capitol Hill.
When asked if he would like Trump to be prevented from serving in office – the ultimate goal of the Senate impeachment trial in the Senate and a decision that would open the field for other Republicans – Rubio said: “Who are we to tell the people in whom they can you vote? “
Rick Scott, a fellow Republican and junior senator from Florida, also rejected speculation that he would seek the presidency.
“I’m not running for president,” Scott told Insider.