Author: Jen

June 5, 2023: A super PAC supporting Miami Mayor Francis Suarez’s run for the Republican presidential nomination has launched an artificial intelligence chatbot to answer questions about him, marking yet another example of how generative AI tools are being used in 2024 presidential campaigns. (The Independent)

The bot unveiled Wednesday by SOS America PAC listens to a user’s questions and matches them to video answers, created with an AI-powered avatar made to look and sound like Suarez.

“Hi, I’m AI Francis Suarez,” the bot says to introduce itself, its mouth moving in a way that’s not quite human. “You’ve probably heard that my namesake, conservative Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, is running for president. I’m here to answer questions you may have about Mayor Suarez’s proven agenda for economic prosperity, cutting spending and supporting our police. So, how can I help?”…

June 14, 2023: Francis Suarez, Miami’s second-term mayor, has filed papers to run in the Republican presidential primary, casting himself as a conservative problem solver while he faces an FBI probe over payments from a developer seeking help from the city. (Miami Herald – via AOL)

Suarez, a 45-year-old attorney and private equity executive, is the first Hispanic to enter a crowded GOP field. He is expected to announce his candidacy Thursday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, but papers filed with the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday show he’s officially a candidate for president…

…In recent weeks, he’s faced questions about his outside employment after the Miami Herald reported he was paid $10,000 a month as a consultant for developer Rishi Kapoor while Suarez’s office assisted Kapoor in resolving permitting issues with the city. The FBI recently opened a probe into the allegations, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Suarez has denied any wrongdoing, saying his work with Kapoor was related to development matters outside of Miami and that his office routinely assists developers seeking help with red tape. While the political leader of Miami, Suarez has no administrative power within Miami government, which is run by a city manager…

June 16, 2023: Miami Mayor Frances Suarez’s entry to the 2024 Republican presidential primary left many wondering how he would carve out a place in a crowded GOP field that includes two other heavyweight candidates from Florida. (Miami Herald)

Thursday night, he signaled what his path could be during his first public speech since officially launching his campaign: He’s taking the Ronald Regan lane, as a Cuban-American with family who faced oppression under the island communist regime, a youthful politician who started in politics by asking Miamians to vote for his papi when his father ran for mayor, and a leader who sees his city as a “thriving city on a hill.”

“I believe America is still a shining city on a hill, whose eyes of the world are upon us, and whose promise should be restored,” he told an audience of a few hundred at the Ronald Regan Presidential in California. Sitting in the front row was his father, Xavier Suarez, Miami’s first Cuban-born mayor. “And I believe this city needs more than a fighter or a shouter. I believe it needs a servant. I believe it needs a mayor.”…

August 4, 2023: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (R) said rival GOP presidential candidate Ron DeSantis’s decision to debate Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) is “a sign of DeSantis’s desperation.” (The Hill)

“I’m not surprised at all. He put pressure on himself, he’s got to compete, he’s got to do well. If he does poorly, I think it’s very, very fatal,” Suarez said of the Florida governor on a business podcast released Friday.

Newsom initially challenged DeSantis to a debate last September. DeSantis, facing pressure from donors and falling poll numbers, accepted the challenge Thursday. The debate is expected to take place in early November…

…DeSantis places second in most polls behind former President Donald Trump in the GOP race, but he is a distant second place…

…Recent national polling averages show DeSantis with about 14 percent support – down from 20 percent when he launched his campaign in May – and Trump with about 53 percent support.

Suarez is receiving less than a tenth of a percent support according to the same polling averages.

August 29, 2023: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez announced Tuesday that he’s suspending his long-shot 2024 Republican presidential race after he failed to make the cut for the GOP debate stage last week. (CBS News)

In an announcement on Tuesday, Suarez said “running for president has been the greatest honor of my life.” He also vowed to continue to “amplify the voices of the Hispanic community – the fastest-growing group in our country.”

“The Left has taken Hispanics for granted for far too long, and it is no surprise that so many are finding a home in America’s conservative movement,” Suarez said. “Our party must continue to do more to include and attract this vibrant community that believes in our country’s functional values: faith, family, hard work, and freedom. Younger voters, Independents, urban voters and suburban women – all of whom I’ve carried in previous elections – among others, should find a comfortable home in the GOP and its policies.”

Suarez is the first Republican to drop out of the 2024 race…

October 8, 2023: Miami Mayor Frances Suarez, ambitious and eager to bask in the national spotlight, would rather not talk about City Hall right now. (Miami Herald).

His brash, hand-picked police chief is alleging deep-seated corruption by some the city’s powerful commissioners and claiming to have gone to the feds. Commissioners, in turn, have been slamming Miami’s new top cop in public, using a series of at times bizarre televised hearings to accuse Chief Art Acevedo of egomaniacal behavior and outline just how little vetting was done while luring the new chief away from his job in Houston.

And yet, Suarez, riding a wave of positive tech news and entertaining talk of presidential potential, is having nothing to do with the drama at home, dodging interviews, issuing statements and betting that he and the city are better off it he lies low until the city’s top administrator douses the flames…

…But by staying mostly silent, Suarez – who is running for reelection against scant opposition on Nov. 2, risks looking absent as Miami’s often volatile City Hall erupts again and the cop he only months ago called the “Michael Jordan police chief’s” is on the verge of getting canned…

November 14, 2023: Miami Mayor Francis Suarez earned payments totaling six figures advising two financial firms run by close associates of a Russian oligarch, two of several side jobs he refused to reveal to the public until he ran for president with its more rigorous disclosure requirements. (Miami Herald – via AOL).

Suarez received between $160,000 and $220,000 combined working for Dreamer Capital and Legacy Wealth Advisors, which share a Brickell office with a business and charity connected to Igor Makarov, an oil tycoon worth in excess of $2 billion.

Dreamer and Legacy are led, respectively by Lazar Finker and his son, Eugene Frenkel. Both have longtime financial and personal test Makarov, who holds a spot on the Putin List – a U.S. government roster of the mega-rich with Kremlin ties.

Dreamer and Legacy are more than a dozen income sources, paying millions, that the mayor had refused to detail until he briefly ran for president, dropping out in August. The Federal Trade Election Commission requires presidential candidates to reveal who pays them…

November 22, 2023: Another state ethics complaint has been filed against Miami Mayor Francis Suarez. (Miami New Times)

In a complaint filed last week with the Florida Commission on Ethics, activist Thomas Kennedy accuses Suarez of violating state ethics law by spending taxpayer funds on personal security during his bid for president. The complaint records previously obtained by New Times that showed Miami Police Department officers traveled on the campaign trail with Suarez and billed the city more than $20,000 for their hotels, transportation, and meal expenses.

“Mayor Francis Suarez is misusing public resources for personal political benefit,” Kennedy wrote in the complaint.

In an email sent to Kennedy on Tuesday, Millie Fulford, complaint coordinator for the Florida Commission on Ethics, confirmed receipt of the complaint.

Florida law requires that public resources and city staff only be used for public purposes. If the City of Miami is not reimbursed for the costs, Suarez’s use of city funds during his brief presidential campaign could breach regulations, government ethics expert Caroline Klancke told New Times in early November…

…It is unclear whether an investigator has been assigned to the case. A spokesperson for Suarez has not responded to a request for comment…

January 16, 2024: Suarez was the only Latino candidate in the race and has previously called on candidates who don’t make the debate stage to drop out. He ultimately followed his own advice, dropping out of the race in August 2023, becoming the first candidate to end their campaign. (Vox)…

…Suarez still faces questions about possible corruption. He is under investigation by the Miami-Dade ethics commission for his work for Miami real estate developer Rishi Kapoor, who is being investigated by the FBI and Securities and Exchange Commission. Kapoor allegedly paid Suarez $10,000 per month to aid him in securing government permits for an urban real estate project…

Posted March 28, 2023 – Updated April 20, 2023: Conservative radio talk show host and former California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder is jumping into the race for the White House, joining a growing field of contenders taking on former President Donald Trump in the battle for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. (Fox News)

Elder on Thursday announced his candidacy for president in an interview on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight”

“America is in decline, but this decline is not inevitable. We can enter a new American Golden Age, but we must choose a leader who can bring us there. That’s why I’m running for President,” Elder wrote in an accompanying statement.

Elder, a longtime conservative commentator and popular nationally syndicated radio host, easily topped the field of replacement candidates in California’s gubernatorial recall election in September 2021 that Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom convincingly survived. Elder passed on taking on Newsom a second time when the governor easily won reelection last year in the heavily blue state…

…The conservative host, who is Black, has said that he believes that among the top issues in the 2024 election are inflation, energy, an border security. But he’s also emphasized that he wants to highlight the plight of children in American being born to parents who are not married and to target what he argues is “this lie about systemic racism.”

Democratic National Committee chair Jamie Harrison, in a statement, argued that “when Larry Elder isn’t busy cozying up to Donald Trump pr parroting conspiracy theories, he’s laying out an extreme agenda that doubles down on abortion bans. Elder is so extreme he even suggested abolishing Medicare entirely.”…

April 20, 2023: Conservative talk radio host Larry Elder launched a 2024 presidential campaign Thursday, joining a growing list of candidates seeking the GOP nomination. (Politico)

“America is in decline, but this decline is not inevitable,” Elder wrote on Twitter Thursday night. “We can enter a new American Golden Age, but we must choose a leader who can bring us there. That’s why I’m running for President.”

Elder won the most votes of any candidate in the unsuccessful effort to recall California Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021. The radio host and regular Fox News commentator emerged from the packed field of candidates seeking to replace Newsom, touting his opposition to the Covid-19 pandemic restrictions and attacking abortion rights.

He now enters a crowded GOP primary field, which includes former President Donald Trump, former South Caroline Governor and former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, conservative entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson…

July 24, 2023: Republican 2024 presidential candidate Larry Elder isn’t placing in any national polls, but for him, his candidacy is very much alive and real. (ABC News)

The 71-year-old Elder has garnered criticism from both Republicans and Democrats for his controversial views about topics like race and his attention-grabbing headlines. One of them involves his ex-fiancée filing a police report, accusing him of brandishing a gnat her, which Elder has vehemently denied.

A former Democrat, he’s never held an elected position, instead earning his living as a lawyer before becoming a talk show host. He was a staple on KABC, calling himself “The Sage from South Central.” Elder’s popularity led him to receive a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2015. His most recent show “The Larry Elder Show,” was nationally syndicated on the Salem Radio Network and drew 1.5 million listeners, according to 2021 estimates…

…”The more thought about it, the more I thought, ‘Frankly, it would be easier for me to run and become president of the United States than to run and become a Republican candidate statewide in California.”…

…Finances are a touchy subject for Elder. He’s raised $467,531 in the second quarter, with $324,616 cash on hand, falling in the lower end of the fundraising spectrum. He has yet to break 1% in three national polls, according to FiveThirtyEight’s average, one the new requirements the Republican National Committee has placed candidates to make it to the first debate, and he told ABC News he’s only about halfway to the required 40,000 unique donors needed.

Elder calls the rules put in place by the RNC “arbitrary and unfair.”…

…”I’m running for president,” he said. But “if my phone rings and the nominee calls and offers me a position as a vice president, I’m not going to let the call go to voicemail.”

October 27, 2023: Former radio show host and California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder has dropped out of the 2024 presidential campaign race and endorsed former President Donald Trump. (WBAL News Radio)

“The reason that I’m doing this is because in the very beginning, the [Republican National Committee] shafted me… if you can’t make the first debate, it’s almost impossible for you to make the second debate, let alone the third debate. So I’m being realistic,” Elder told ABC News, referring to how he failed to meet the national party’s donor and polling qualifications to be at the debates.

Elder is the fourth Republican candidate to drop out…

October 27, 2023: Conservative talk radio host Larry Elder announced Thursday he is suspending his 2024 Republican campaign for president and endorsing former President Donald Trump’s bid to reclaim the White House. (The Gazette)

Elder, from California, is the fourth major candidate to suspend or end his bid for the GOP presidential nomination, following Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, former Texas congressman Will Hurd, and Michigan businessman Perry Johnson…

…Elder, in a statement, said he made the “difficult decision” to end his bid after “careful consultation” with his team.

Trump’s leadership, he said, was “instrumental in advancing conservative, America-first principles and policies that have benefited our great nation.”…

…”Although I’m suspending my campaign for president, my commitment to addressing the crisis of fatherlessness, promoting conservative ideals, and supporting the MAGA movement remains unwavering,”Elder said in his statement…

January 16, 2024: Elder, a conservative radio host and frequent talking head on Fox News, has never held political office but led the race to replace California Gov. Gavin Newson, a Democrat, in an unsuccessful recall campaign in 2021. He dropped out of the GOP primary and endorsed Trump in late October 2023 after failing to make the debate stage. (Vox)

…Elder, a vocal Trump supporter, has espoused conservative stances on issues from abortion rights to pandemic restrictions, including mask mandates. And as a Black Man, he has critiqued the Black Lives Matter movement and called the idea of systemic racism a “lie,” though he framed his policies in the recall election as benefiting Black people…

…He and businessman Perry Johnson, who has also dropped out of the race, have said they will sue the Republican National Committee for excluding them from the debate state…

June 22, 2023: Former Texas Congressman Will Hurd announced he’s running for president on “CBS Mornings” Thursday. (CBS News)

“This morning, I filed to be the Republican nominee for president of the United States,” Hurd told “CBS Mornings”

Hurd, 45, was first elected to serve Texas 23rd Congressional District in 2014, beating a Democratic incumbent by two points. The majority-Hispanic district stretches along the Rio Grande, west of San Antonio and east of El Paso. Hurd was reelected by narrow margins twice before joining a wave of congressional Republicans who retired before the 2020 election.

…”I believe the Republican Party can be the party that talks about the future, not the past,” Hurd said. “We should be putting out a vision of how do we have unprecedented peace, how do we have a thriving economy, how do we make sure our kids have a world class education, regardless of their age and location? We can do this. It’s hard. But here’s one thing I’ve learned: If we remember two things, we can pull this off. America is better together. Way more unites us than divides us.”…

…As a former CIA officer, Hurd said that Trump’s indictment consisting of 37 felony charges and related to his handling of classified documents after he left the White House is “frustrating,” and that “nobody’s above the law, and you are innocent until proven guilty”…

June 23, 2023: Former Texas Rep. Will Hurd said he would not sign a Republican National Committee (RNC) pledge to back the eventual GOP nominee for president in 2024, after launching his bid for the nomination Thursday. (The Hill)

“I won’t be signing any kind of pledges, and I don’t think that parties should be trying to rig who should be on a debate stage,” Hurd told CNN.

The loyalty pledge is among the criteria Republican candidates must meet to qualify for the first GOP presidential primary debate in August, in addition to polling and fundraising requirements.

“I am not in the business of lying to the American people in order to get a microphone, and I’m not going to support Donald Trump,” Hurd said. “And so I can’t honestly say I’m going to sign something even if he may or may not be the nominee.”

Former President Trump is currently leading a crowded Republican field, despite being indicted for a second time earlier this month on federal charges related to his handling of classified materials…

July 28, 2023: Former Rep. Will Hurd, (R-Texas) on Friday was jeered by a crowd of Iowa Republicans at a gathering for 2024 presidential candidates when he asserted former President Trump is only running for the White House “to stay out of prison”. (The Hill)

“One of the things we need in our elected leaders: To tell the truth, even if it’s not popular,” Hurd, a candidate himself, said at the Iowa GOP’s Lincoln Dinner.

“Donald Trump is not running for president to make America great again. Donald Trump is not even running to represent the people that voted for him in 2016 and 2020,” Donald Trump is running for president to stay out of prison,” Hurd continued, eliciting boos and heckles from those in the audience.

“I know the truth is hard,” he added, echoing comments he made on Thursday. “But if we elect Donald Trump we are willingly giving Joe Biden for more years in the White House”

The former congressman, who served three terms in the House and spent several years working at the CIA, has been sharply critical of Trump and argued the former president is unfit for another term in the White House…

July 31, 2023: Will Hurd, who served in the CIA for a decade and as a member of the House of Representatives from Texas for six years, said that he was running for president because he believed the country is facing generational challenges – including artificial intelligence, competition with China, a struggling education system, and precarious civic health. (NPR)

“Democracy is fragile,” Hurd said in a conversation with The NPR Politics Podcast “We need people that are working towards it.”…

…On why he voted against former President Trump’s impeachment while serving in the House of Representatives.

My standard for impeachment has always been a violation of the law. When I was running in 2014 in Republican primaries, every candidate forum, there was a question: Are you going to impeach Barack Hussein Obama? And it was like, “for what?” I do not view impeachment as a political tool. And so my standard has always been a violation of the law. And when it came to Donald Trump’s phone call with President Zelenskyy, it did not meat the criteria for bribery or extortion. Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not know that the aid had been paused. And the aid ultimately was given…

…Hurd acknowledges that Joe Biden won the 2020 presidential election – and he won’t support Trump if Trump is the nominee.

Yes, Joe Biden won. And let me put a finer point on it. The election was not stolen from Donald Trump. He lost it.

He lost it because he was incapable of growing the GOP brand to those largest groups of voters that we talked about earlier, women in the suburbs, folks in Black and brown communities, and people under the age of 35. And the 2020 elections was one of the most secure elections in our history.

I’m not voting for Donald Trump. I’m not going to vote for Joe Biden. I’ll probably write somebody in [if those candidates are nominated.]

…He supports a federal 15-week abortion ban – but says states should expand maternal and neonatal care.

If Congress put a 15-week ban on my desk, I would sign it.

But also, if states are restricting this, those states should also have the best neonatal health, the best maternity health care.

The fact that many Black women in the United States – that their death rates during childbirth are equivalent to some in the developing world is absolutely outrageous.

So we should be talking about sex education, making sure contraception is available if this patchwork system is what’s in place…

August 18, 2023: Former Rep. Wil Hurd (R-Texas) went after fellow presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on Friday, saying his campaign is “circling the drain” after a leaked debate prep memo suggests he stand behind former President Trump at the first GOP debate next week. (The Hill)

Hurd said in an CNN interview that he wants to be “speaking truth to power,” and is planning to attend the debate in Milwaukee if he can meet the criteria before then.

“I’m not going to be like DeSantis and defend Donald Trump, which is absolutely crazy,” he said. “The Ron DeSantis campaign is circling the drain. The fact that they’re having to cut so much staff, they don’t have the resources to do their own debate prep.”…

…Hurd has not yet qualified for the Wednesday debate in Wisconsin. While his campaign announced Thursday he reached the 40,000 donor threshold, he is still one poll short of qualifying…

October 9, 2023: Former Texas Rep. Will Hurd announced Monday that he is ending his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024 and is endorsing former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. (CNN)

“Unfortunately, it has become clear to me and my team that the time has come to suspend our campaign,” he wrote in a statement, adding that “it is important to recognize the realities of the political landscape and the need to consolidate our party around one person to defeat both Donald Trump and President (Joe) Biden.”

The former congressman and CIA officer, who had struggled to gain traction in a crowded GOP field dominated by Trump, offered a start warning to his party: “If the Republican Party nominates Donald Trump or the various personalities jockeying to imitate his divisive, crass behavior, we will lose.”…

…In backing Haley, a former ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, Hurd praised her as a leader who can navigate national security challenges. “Ambassador Haley has shown a willingness to articulate a different vision for the country than Donald Trump and has an unmatched grasp on the complexities of our foreign policy,” he said…

October 16, 2023: Will Hurd wants to be the most powerful man in the world. Like so many candidates before him, he knew the loneliness of the long distance runner crisscrossing Iowa and New Hampshire in a quest for votes that might make him president of the United States. But it was not to be. (The Guardian)

This week Hurd called it a day after a campaign that failed to make much of a splash. Indeed, arguably his biggest headline came in July when he declared, “Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison,” and was roundly booed at the Iowa Republican Party’s Lincoln Dinner. Unrepentant, Hurd told them: “Listen, I know the truth is hard.”…

…Hurd, 46, is no stranger to the campaign trail. He served three terms in the House of Representatives and was the chamber’s sole Black Republican during his final two years in office. He represented Texas’s then most competitive district, which was heavily Hispanic and stretched from the outskirts of San Antonio to El Paso, spanning more than 800 miles of US-Mexico border…

…Hurd was the last major candidate to join the already crowded Republican presidential primary field when he announced his run in late July. He campaigned as a pragmatic, pro-business moderate with strong national security credentials who was unafraid to seek bipartisan consensus. He took on the grind of countless hours on planes, in hotels and away from family with good grace…

…Nine in 10 people in Iowa and New Hampshire are white. Democrats, for their part, have revised their 2024 presidential primary schedule, replacing Iowa with the more racially diverse South Carolina as the leadoff voting state. Hurd, the some of a Black father and white mother, has written about the racism he endured as teenager and entitled the first part of his book: “The GOP needs to look like America.”…

Trump alternative. Her campaign reported that she raised more than $11m between July and September and this week George Will, an influential Washington Post columnist, called on South Carolina Senator Tim Scott and other contenders to drop out and rally around the “experienced, polished, steely and unintimidated” Haley”…

January 16, 2024: As a representative of a border district and a moderate, Hurd was an outspoken critic of Trump’s immigration policies while serving in Congress. Hurd opted not to seek reelection in 2020 because he felt out of step with the hard right turn his party had taken under Trump. However, he joined his Republican colleagues in voting against Trump’s impeachment in 2019. (Vox)…

…Hurd was also known as a bipartisan dealmaker during his time in Congress, breaking with his party on issues such as LGBTQ rights, gun control, and to push to repeal the Affordable Care Act. But given that the Republican Party has only further dug in its heels on MAGA politics since his departure from office, Republican voters haven’t been all that interested in a candidate who reaches across the aisle, and didn’t seem interested this time.

Hurd struggled to stand out in a field already filled with big names — not to mention all the other lesser-known candidates fighting to increase single-digit poll numbers — and ultimately retired from the race in October 2023. He endorsed Nikki Haley.

March 12, 2023: Donald Trump should quit the race for the Republican nomination in 2024 if he is indicted in New York over a hush money payment to a porn star during his victorious run in 2016, a prospective rival said. (The Guardian)

“It doesn’t mean that he’s guilty of it or he should be charged,” said Asa Hutchinson, a former governor of Arkansas. “But it’s just such a distraction that would be unnecessary for somebody who’s seeking the highest office in the land.”

Hutchinson has not declared a run. Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor, remains Trump’s only declared opponent from the Republican mainstream. The governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, is Trump’s only serious challenger in polling…

April 4, 2023: Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) who announced that he’s running for president in 2024, said former President Trump should drop out of the race now that he’s been indicted on criminal charges. (The Hill)

“I mean, first of all, the office is more important than any individual person. And so for the sake of the office of the presidency, I do think that’s too much of a sideshow and distraction and he needs to be able to concentrate on his due process and there is a presumption of innocence,” Hutchinson said in an interview aired Sunday with ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl.

Hutchinson had said earlier that Trump should drop out if he was indicted, and shared a statement after news of the indictment generated headlines saying Trump should not become president again. Asked by Karl in the new interview whether he thinks Trump should now step away, Hutchinson says “I do.”…

…Hutchinson announced during the interview that he’ll seek the Republican nomination for president in 2024. Trump announced just after the November midterms and is now the first sitting or former U.S. president to face criminal charges…

April 26, 2023: Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson officially launched his campaign for the GOP presidential nomination on Wednesday. (NBC News)

Here’s where he stands on some top issues:

Abortion

Hutchinson signed a near-total abortion ban into law in 2021, which included an exception for the life of the mother. Hutchinson said at the time that he would have preferred the ban also include exceptions for rape and incest.

After the Supreme Court overturned the landmark Roe v. Wade decision last year, ending the federal right to an abortion, Hutchinson said the court’s decision “will save lives.”

But he does not support a federal ban on abortion, instead of arguing that policies dictating abortion access and restrictions should be decided at state level…

Entitlements

“We have got to protect Social Security and Medicare,” Hutchinson recently told PBS NewsHour. He added that he does not support raising the retirement age to address the looming shortfalls facing those entitlement programs.

As governor, Hutchinson also championed adding a work requirement for the state’s Medicaid expansion.

“We want them to have the health care coverage,” Hutchinson told NPR in 2019.

“But we also want to help them get to work and to show them where the path is so that they can have an income,” he later added…

Transgender issues

As governor, Hutchinson had a mixed record on transgender issues. He vetoed a bill banning gender-affirming care for minors, criticizing the measure as “vast government overreach.”…

…He also signed a measure barring transgender women and girls competing in school sports that aligned with their gender identity…

July 17, 2023: Republican presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said in an interview on Monday that the reason he was jeered at a political event was due to the “stranglehold” former President Trump has on his party. (The Hill)

Hutchinson, who announced his candidacy in April, was greeted by boos and chants of “Trump” when he appeared on stage to speak at the Turning Point Action Conference in West Palm Beach, Fla., on Sunday.

“Well, its a different day in time, and that reflects Trump’s stranglehold a certain element of the party,” Hutchinson told host Leland Vittert on NewsNation’s “The Hill”. “But what you saw in that audience were thousands of young people who I was speaking to, and they were listening.”

He added that “It’s important for me to speak my message about where this country needs to go, and different policies for what President Biden is bringing, from energy to too much federal spending, so I gave that message, and that’s important for me to be there”…

August 1, 2023: GOP presidential candidate and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on Friday he believes he will be able to qualify for the next Republican primary debate, despite doubters. (The Hill)

“You know that many people didn’t think I was gonna make the last debate stage, and I heard your prognosticators already say you don’t think we’re gonna make the next one at the Reagan Library,” he told NBC “Meet the Press” anchor Chuck Todd on Friday. “So I intend to prove it all wrong. I expect to be there.”

The next Republican debate will take place on Sept. 27, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Southern California.

In August, the Republican National Committee (RNC) released the criteria the GOP hopefuls must meet in order to qualify for the second debate – slightly more stringent than the first debate.

Candidates will need to have a minimum of 50,000 unique donors, including 200 donors in 20 states or more each, according to the RNC. They will also need to poll at a minimum of 3 percent in two national surveys or poll at 3 percent in one national poll and two polls conducted in two early states – including Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.

Hutchinson currently sits at an average of 0.7 percent in national polls among the Republican candidates, according to FiveThirtyEight. That average is a far cry from the leader of the Republican pack, former President Trump, who has a polling average of 50.3 percent…

October 28, 2023: Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is taking over some of his own presidential campaign’s staffing duties after agreeing to part ways with his campaign manager, Rob Burgess. (NBC News)

Hutchinson said he plans to handle all media inquiries directly until he either hires a replacement for Burgess, who is leaving after Oct. 31, or designates an existing member of his staff to handle those responsibilities.

“I thought we were all together on it [the campaign].” Hutchinson said. “So that’s really, there’s nothing more to be said there other than it was by mutual agreement. And clearly, I’m continuing with the campaign, excited about it, and we go from here.”

…He added that he and Burgess mutually agreed on the campaign manager’s departure. The shakeup comes after Hutchinson failed to qualify for the second Republican presidential primary debate in September, and with the deadline bearing down to meet the requirements for the third debate on Nov. 8, in Miami…

November 1, 2023: Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has brought on a new presidential campaign manager, one day after parting ways with his previous top staffer. (NBC News)

Williams served as Hutichson’s chief of staff from 2016 to 2023 while he was governor.

“She’s been with me from the U.S. Congress, which was 20 years ago, to DEA, Homeland Security and then as governor, of course, in my key role as my chief of staff, and so she’s a trusted ally,” Hutchinson said of Williams. “She knows how I like things to operate, and I’m just delighted that she’s on board. And she’s going to bring our fighting team together for the sprint ahead.”

The staffing change comes as Hutchinson decided not to file for the primary ballot in South Carolina, citing the tough competition there between former President Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

“As a practical matter, there’s minimal chance that I would have to win the entire state of South Carolina. And so, if you, if you can’t win it, then let’s maximize the opportunity for non-Trump delegates,” Hutchison told NBC News…

…Hutchinson says he hopes his decision will maximize the opportunity to spread out delegates addled to a more competitive Super Tuesday…

…However, Hutchinson said he still plans to file for the ballot in Florida despite two more home-state favorites, Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis, going up against each other there.

November 11, 2023: Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) pushed back against the suggestion that he might end his 2024 GOP presidential bid after failing to qualify for the third GOP primary debate. (The Hill)

Hutchinson was asked by CNN’s Jim Acosta about arguments made that the GOP needs to coalesce around an “anti-Trump or non-Trump candidate” and asked if it was “time” for Hutchinson to drop out of the race to “make that possible.” The former Arkansas governor responded that he doesn’t believe that to be the case.

“I think most people that make the case, ‘We need to narrow the field,’ they’re talking about … after the first four states, that’s the case that Mitt Romney made,” Hutchinson said.

“And there’ll be a time down the road that consolidation will happen, but the voters… have an opportunity to express themselves, and you’re gonna see a lot of changes,” he continued.

Hutchinson, along with Doug Burgum, failed to meet the Republican National Committee’s debate qualifications, which included fundraising and polling requirements…

…Hutchinson was recently booed at the Florida Republican Party’s annual Freedom Summit last week…

January 16, 2024: Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is ending his 2024 race for president after a dismal sixth-place showing in the Iowa caucuses underscored how little he had been embraced by Republican voters. (ABC News)

With 99% of the expected results in, Hutchinson secured just 191 votes in the Iowa caucuses and zero pledged delegates as of Tuesday morning, appearing to underperform his .07% polling average in the Hawkeye State and trailing little-known pastor Ryan Binkley, who has no national profile to speak of.

“My message of being a principled Republican with experience and telling the truth about the current front runner did not sell in Iowa,” Hutchinson said in a statement, referring to Donald Trump. “I stand by the campaign I ran. I answered every question, sounded the warning to the GOP about the risks in 2024 and presented hope for our country’s future.”

Hutchinson said he had congratulated Trump on the latter’s victor in Iowa and added “[My wife] Susan and I are blessed beyond measure, and we are grateful for the opportunity to have fought in the political arena for America.”

Heading into Iowa’s contest, Hutchison had wanted to make it into the top four and beat businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who has since dropped out.

Since launching his campaign in April 2023, Hutchinson never managed to build significant momentum in the polls with donors and he failed to meet the requirements for each of the Republican primary debates following the first stage last August.

He initially vowed to stay in the race through Thanksgiving, testing to see whether he would break 4% in an early voting state, a goal he did not meet.

But he kept his bid going well beyond that self-imposed deadline — holding dozens of Iowa meet-and-greets in what he called a “Return to Normal” tour during what would be his campaigns final weeks…

…Hutchinson was the first GOP candidate to call for former President Trump to step aside, arguing Trump’s campaign and his many legal issues distract from the issues facing Americans. (Trump denies all wrongdoing.) Hutchinson ultimately outlasted former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who had a similar message to conservative voters and similarly failed to persuade any of them…

… Hutchinson was hoping to outlast Trump — whom he supported while governor of Arkansas but broke from after Jan. 6, 2021 — betting that, between multiple criminal indictments and other baggage, the former president would be toppled by external forces or sour with voters.

But with Trump winning the Iowa caucuses and Hutchinson failing to receive any delegates, he finally called it quits…

February 25, 2024: Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R) said Sunday that he thinks former President Trump wants to wrap up the nominating process quickly because he sees certain warning signs looming that could threaten his path to the candidacy. (The Hill)

In an interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart, Hutchison mentioned as potential threats the multiple court cases against Trump, the financial fines and fees he must pay, and the nearly 40 percent of South Carolina GOP voters who voted for Haley.

“I think what Donald Trump is trying to do is to wrap this nomination up very quickly, because he knows the storm clouds are gathering over him,” Hutchinson said.

Asked whether he would support Trump if Haley dropped out of the race, Hutichson said, “Well, I’m not going to support a convicted felon.”

“And of course, that remains to be seen. So let’s see who comes out of the Republican convention. It’s not done until it’s done,” Hutchinson responded, adding later, “Let’s wait and see who comes out of the convention. I’m not going to support a convicted felon.”

Hutchinson did not say whether he would support Trump as the ultimate nominee if the former president is not ultimately convicted in any of his four criminal indictments that he faces — two on the federal level and two on the state level.

Hutchinson said the decision is difficult, as a longtime Republican who still believes in the party.

“I’ve always supported the Republican nominee. It’s sort of a big deal to move a different direction. And I have still hope for the Republican Party,” Hutchinson said. “It’s challenged, because I see the direction and the challenge that Nikki Haley has in front of her, but we’re going to work hard to see if we can change them between now and the convention.”

In response to Hutchison’s comments, a Trump spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Hill: “Nobody cares what Ada Hutchinson has to say. He can go crawl back under whatever rock he slithered out from.”

January 24, 2023: Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday that he will decide whether to mount a bid for the White House in the “next handful of months” as he and his wife continue weighing his political future. (CBS News)

“Susan and I are thinking, praying, trying to figure out if this is the next place to go serve. We haven’t gotten to that conclusion. We’ll figure this out in the next handful of months,” Pompeo said in an interview with Gayle King on “CBS Mornings.”

Pompeo is out with a new book, “Never Give an Inch: Fighting for the America I Love,” that hit shelves Tuesday. The book focuses on his tenure serving as CIA director and secretary of state in the Trump administration and has been viewed as a springboard for a 2024 presidential run, though Pompeo said the goal is to “tell the story” of the Trump administration’s effort to “put the American people at the front of American foreign policy.”

If Pompeo does seek the Republican nomination in 2024, he would go up against his former boss, who announced in November that he would run for president a third time…

January 29, 2023: Mike Pompeo is prescient, at least. Back in 2016, as a congressman, he warned Kansas Republicans of the danger posed by Donald Trump. Pompeo lamented that the US had already endured more than seven years of “an authoritarian president who ignored our constitution” – meaning Barack Obama – and cautioned that a Trump presidency would be no different (The Guardian)

“It’s time to turn down the lights on the circus,” he said.

Pompeo is an ex-army captan who graduated first in his class at West Point. But in the face of Trump’s triumphs, he turned tail and sucked-up. Pompeo was CIA director then secretary of state. On the job, his sycophancy grew legendary.

“He’s like a heat-seeking missile for Trump’s ass,” a former ambassador recalled to Susan Glasser of the New Yorker.

Never Give an Inch is Pompeo’s opening salvo in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. On cue, he puckers up to Trump, the only declared candidate so far, and thanks to Mike Pence, a likely contestant, from bringing him into the fold. But where others are concerned, Never Give an Inch doubles as a burn book.

Pompeo strafes two other possible contenders: Nikki Haley, Trump’s first United Nations ambassador, and John Bolton, Trump’s third national security adviser…

…How well is this working? Pompeo may well sell books but fail to move the needle. Polls show him at 1% in the notional presidential primary, tied with the likes of Paul Ryan, the former House Speaker, and Ted Cruz, the Senate’s own squeegee pest. Pompeo trails Haley and Pence…

January 31, 2023: …But seizing attention at the moment is former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is currently making his push to join the 2024 conversation using that most useless of all campaign standbys – the political memoir. The good news is that Pompeo is slightly less pathetic than Pence. The bad news is that Pompeo is that he has even less of a chance of becoming president. (The New Republic)

What Pompeo brings to the table is that he is a Frankenstein’s monster of contemporary Republican politics. A creature bred in a Koch brothers lab – the best-known GOP megadonor-influencers were early investors in Pompeo’s aviation company; the Kansas native has been involved in the brothers’ political orbit for decades – Pompeo has hastily rebranded in the Trump era. Though he was reportedly alarmed by Trump’s efforts to foment a coup in the aftermath of the 2020 election, Pompeo has since largely sidestepped any or all talk of the Capitol riot…

April 15, 2023: Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said on Friday that he will not run for president in the 2024 election. (The Guardian)

The devoted ally and defender of Donald Trump opted out of a contest that would have put him into competition with his former commander in chief.

After saying he was weighing a run in January, the former Trump administration official and CIA director released a statement on the decision. “To those of you who this announcement disappoints, my apologies,” he said, calling it a personal choice…

…Where Haley and Pence have openly expressed differences with Trump, Pompeo has had no public split with the former president and hasn’t been rebuked by him, as many of his would-be rivals have. Pompeo recently referred to Trump as a “great boss.”

April 17, 2023: Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he will not run for president as a Republican candidate, and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is also looking unlikely to run, leaving room for the early voter favorites – former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. (Deseret News)

“Susan and I have concluded, after much consideration and prayer, that I will not present myself as a candidate to become President of the United States in the 2024 election,” Pompeo said in a release posted on Twitter on Friday…

…He said that his wife will continue to actively engage “as parents, Sunday school teachers, community leaders and business leaders,” adding that, “There remains much to do and the conservative cause is worthy.”…

…Pompeo, who said he was considering a 2024 presidential campaign earlier this year, was polling low among other GOP candidates as well as hopefuls. A national Quinnipiac University poll from February found that he had the support of only 4% of voters surveyed…

December 9, 2023: Back in Wichita for an event promoting his new book, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo didn’t mince words when asked if he supports Donald Trump’s 2024 bid for the presidency. (The Wichita Eagle)

“Oh, goodness, no,” Pompeo told a reporter before the event.

“Because we’re still thinking about running ourselves, and it will be interesting to see who else enters the race.”…

…Pompeo’s memoir – “Never Give An Inch” – is the latest signal that he is considering a run for president. He started a political action committee in April 2021 and has been visiting early primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

On Friday, Pompeo’s tour stopped at Wichita State University, where he also answered reporters’ questions on a federal abortion ban, election integrity and spy balloons…

Pompeo said he and his wife, Susan, expect to make a decision on a presidential run by late spring or early summer…

March 8, 2023: Chatter is growing around the possibility of Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) launching a 2024 presidential bid as he seeks to bolster his national profile. (The Hill)

Youngkin has inserted himself into the national spotlight in recent weeks as other potential GOP contenders, including fellow Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) of Florida, journey outside of their states to test the presidential waters. Last week, Youngkin made an appearance on CNBC’s morning show “Squawk Box” and will participate in a live town hall on CNN on education, a hot-button issue for the GOP primary base. The governor also met with donors in New York last week…

…While political observers interpret Youngkin’s media blitz as a sign he [is] considering jumping into the 2024 arena, those close to him also emphasize that he’s stumping for Virginia’s highly contested state legislature elections this fall…

…Only 42 percent of GOP respondents said Youngkin should seek their party’s nomination, according to the Roanoke College poll.

That same poll and other surveys also show Youngkin trailing former President Trump, as well as DeSantis, who is mulling a run and bolstering his public profile as well…

March 29, 2023: “Please, please, implored the Republican governor of Virginia: Let us “set aside acrimony” and finger-pointing and all the “mental gymnastics of partisanship” that combine to make people so tired and cynical about “politics as usual.” (Politico)

Before setting that aside, however, Glenn Youngkin had some work to do: In the very same speech to the General Assembly in which he urged bipartisan comity, he blamed Democratic predecessors for “systematically lowered” standards for student achievement, “soft on crime” policies that led to rising murder rates, and outsourcing the state’s energy future to “radical bureaucrats in California.”…

…It’s a matter of taste, to be sure, but many people do not find Youngkin painful. His approval ratings among Virginians is at 58 percent, according to a recent Roanoke College poll. Those who recoil at his rhetorical contradictions and the evident calculation behind them are heavily concentrated here around the state capitol: Legislators who resent what they regard as his unseemly haste in pursuing national ambitions, or local reporters stiffed by a governor who doesn’t much care for their questions.

When politicians can play both ends of the keyboard – sounding notes of grievance and aspiration with equal fluency – they often go far. This spring will likely force a decision by Youngkin about how far, and how fast, he wants to try and go. Should he run for president, even as he was only elected governor, his first foray into politics, less than a year and a half ago?

The reasons to be skeptical are fairly simple. The Republican donor and operative class that wants to put Trump out of their misery for good – the people Youngkin will need if he runs – are worried that the field of candidates will grow too large, dividing the anti-Trump vote. Youngkin’s biography, a wealthy private-equity executive known for his earnest religiosity, conveys a superficial resemblance to Mitt Romney. The 2012 nominee was an establishment natural and may have won some suburban independents that Donald Trump never could – but hardly enough to compensate for his lack of populist skills…

…Unlike DeSantis, however, he also pivots at other moments to sound like a Republican version of Bill Clinton’s 1990s centrism. He says the GOP must avoid exclusionary rhetoric and ideological litmus tests. “What I’ve seen in Virginia, and I think I see across this nation, is we in fact have to bring people into the Republican Party, we have to be additive not [rely on] subtraction.”…

…The reality is that Youngkin is less of an updated version of Mitt Romney than he is of someone who actually became president, George W. Bush…

…As he ponders a presidential run, Youngkin presumably is seeking guidance from a higher power than political journalists. Even so, the political press has an obvious interest in the answer: A Youngkin candidacy would be an entertaining addition to the 2024 race. And it would test the hypothesis that there is a future for a brand of GOP politics that lies somewhere between the nihilism of Trumpism and the pallor of Romneyism.

May 19, 2023: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin (R) released a campaign-style video Thursday, further fueling speculation about a possible 2024 presidential bid. (The Hill)

“It’s pretty overwhelming to contemplate the future of American,” Youngkin says in the video, which pulled remarks from the governor’s address at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in April…

…The video, which was paid for by the governor’s Spirit of Virginia PAC, comes after Youngkin said earlier this month that he would not head out on the presidential campaign trail this year.

“I’m going to be working in Virginia this year,” he said at an event at the Milken Institute in Washington D.C.

However, the Virginia governor has continued to stoke speculation about a White House run, appearing not to completely rule out a potential 2024 presidential bid, with an aide telling The Hill at the time that Youngkin’s statement about “working in Virginia” was an answer to a question and meant to reiterate that he was focused on his state in 2023…

July 28, 2023: As Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s presidential campaign stumbles, high-powered GOP figures are turning their attention to another well-known governor: Glenn Youngkin of Virginia. (USA Today)

Youngkin’s approval rating just hit an all-time high, according to a recent poll in which 57% of Virginia voters said they approved of their governor’s job performance. Te same survey found DeSantis’s popularity had slipped between the start of the year and this summer, with his approval rating dropping four points among Florida Republicans and two points among all voters in the state.

This favorability, along with Youngkin’s record-breaking fundraising efforts, has upped speculation about a 2024 presidential campaign. And some party leaders are increasingly hopeful…

…”It’s really humbling when people talk about 2024 and a national role for me. And I thank them, and then I retierate that I’ve got a big job to do here,” Youngkin told USA Today…

September 13, 2023: Some Republicans are holding out hope that a new candidate – perhaps Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin or Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp – will drop into the GOP presidential primary at the last moment and stop former President Donald Trump from winning the party’s nomination. (NBC News)

But at this late date, even The Flash would have a tough time beating deadlines to get on the primary ballot in some states, according to Republicans familiar with the mechanics of running for president…

…To get on the ballot in states isn’t that hard, but it’s time consuming and can be expensive,” [Nick] Trainer said. “These folks’ carriage in their fantasy land is about to turn into a pumpkin.

In other words, the field is all but set, and Republicans who want someone other than Trump know who their choices are now…

October 17, 2023: Glenn Youngkin was waving off talk about running for the White House back in 2021, before he’d even made it to the Virginia governor’s mansion. (Associated Press)

Brad Hobbs, a childhood friend, told The Associated Press at the time that his ultimate goal was to see the Harvard-educated Republican run for president. Hobbs said he brought it up nonstop, even in front of others, which irked Youngkin…

…Conjecture that Youngkin, who is set to host a major donor retreat Tuesday and Wednesday, might make a late entry into the 2024 presidential race has only grown since his victory nearly two years ago. It could further escalate after next month’s high-stakes legislative elections, where he’s aiming for a GOP sweep…

…But the 56-year-old Youngkin, who in public remarks has demurred but not totally shut the door to a bid, would face logistical campaign difficulties, ballot access hurdles, and – according to interviews around the country over the past week – skepticism from some Republican voters, who either don’t know him well or are locked in on Trump…

…Youngkin, who answers questions about his presidential prospects by saying he’s flattered to be in the conversation but focused on Virginia, is currently in the midst of a hectic final push to the state’s Nov. 7 election, with early voting already underway…

…With less than 100 days until voting starts with Iowa’s leadoff caucuses, Youngkin does not have the kind of campaign organization that a presidential hopeful needs to recruit supporters for caucuses or get voters to turn out in January. Most of the presidential campaigns have organizing since early 2023. Trump also has enormous name recognition, years of organizing experience and established supporters nationwide…

November 8, 2023: Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Wednesday that he’s “not going anywhere,” and that he remains focused on the state, indicating that he will not be a candidate in the 2024 presidential election. (NBC News)

Youngkin has long left wiggle room in his answers to questions about the 2024 election, even as filing deadlines and other logistical hurdle made the idea of a late presidential bid seem unlikely. Even so, some supporters have long remained interested in the idea of his joining the GOP primary field.

But jumping in now would mean going back on his statement that he’s staying focused on his state.

Youngkin brushed off a direct question about the 2024 race by noting at a post-election news conference that he’s not on the ballot in the early primary states. Youngkin said he was “disappointed” in the state legislative results Tuesday, in which Democrats kept the State and flipped the state House, despite a big Republican push for complete control of state government…

…Virginia Republicans, led by Youngkin, competed to take over the Legislature for the final two years of his term and win the ability to push their legislative proposals. They included a proposed restriction on abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. But Democrats campaigned hard against the plan and won key swing seats using that message…

May 9, 2023: Vivek Ramaswamy will return your call. He’ll say “yes” to almost any interview request – no matter the outlet – and will linger long after scheduled events die down, autographing a piece of fruit or letting prospective supports lay hands on his chest to cancel Satan’s plans. (Politico)

It’s the most always-on, always-available strategy of the 2024 presidential race. And it appears to be working.

Ten weeks after Ramaswamy launched his presidential run, the wealthy 37-year-old biotech entrepreneur has suddenly moved from suspected vanity campaigner to a contender polling in one recent measure on part with established Republicans like former Vice President Mike Pence, Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott…

…Ramaswamy is still a longshot. But the attention he has quickly drawn is significant in a primary in which DeSantis has slid well behind Trump in primary polling while other Republican candidates scramble to make their mark…

May 10, 2023: Just 10 weeks after launching his campaign, Republican presidential hopeful and former biotech executive Vivek Ramaswamy has risen enough in some polls to match the popularity of well-known candidates such as former vice President Mike Pence and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. He’s pulling respective crowds in early primary states, and he’s reportedly already got some fans who cry out of happiness when they talk about him. (MSNBC)

While he still poises no threat to former President Donald Trump or Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, the surge of interest is still a striking development in an already-packed race. Why are people paying attention to this guy?

Two short profiles in The New York Times and Politico this week focus a great deal on Ramaswamy’s personality and always-say-yes attitude toward media interviews as a way of explaining the surge of Republican interest in him. But what these reports overlook in their narratives is that he’s also getting traction because he’s promising to be more extreme than Trump. Ramaswamy remains a total long shot, but his ability to secure attention is a function of his extremism – and the extremism of the party he’s trying to win over…

…Ramaswamy, like Buttigieg in 2020, has correctly identified the power of intense retail politics and media overexposure as a tactic for building a narrative, and, like Yang, he likely profits from being very online. But there’s an essential ingredient to why the matters are paying off: Ramaswamy is affirming the Republican base’s instincts by promising to succeed where Trump failed to deliver and perfect MAGA politics. And people are eating it up…

July 15, 2023: Republican presidential candidate and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy donated $5 million to his own campaign in the second quarter, bringing in a total of $7.7 million before Saturday’s deadline, according to his Federal Election Commission (FEC) filing. (The Hill)

The conservative entrepreneur ended the quarter with about $9 million in cash on hand. His total haul for the second quarter places him well behind the two frontrunners of the Republican primary race – former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis – but ahead of most of the remaining candidates.

However, only about $2.7 million of Ramaswamy’s second quarter haul came from donor contributions. Since launching his bid for the Republican nomination in February, Ramaswamy has load his campaign more than $15 million…

July 18, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called a potential indictment against former President Trump over his alleged role in the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 a “bad idea,” in an interview Tuesday. (The Hill)

Ramaswamy maintained, however, that Trump exercised “bad judgement” on Jan. 6 and said voters should hold the former president accountable at the ballot box.

“I think he should be held accountable at the ballot box, not at the behest of a federal administrative police state,” Ramaswamy said in NewsNation, when asked whether Trump should be held accountable for the day’s events. “I think it is a bad idea for this country to make a pattern out of using police power to indict a lead political opponent in the middle of an election.”

Ramaswamy, a billionaire tech entrepreneur, has attacked the administration for investigating Trump, but still backed his earlier criticism of Trump’s judgement on Jan. 6…

July 20, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is laying out plans to shut down a number of federal government agencies if elected, starting with the FBI, Department of Education, and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. (NBC News)

Ramaswamy says his plan does not require rebuilding anything, but rather organizing.

“In many cases, these agencies are redundant relative to functions that are already performed elsewhere in the federal government,” Ramaswamy said in an interview with NBC News. “When you have redundancy, that’s actually a formula for corruption, as well as waste, fraud, and abuse.”

Ramaswamy’s plan would see money used to run the FBI, for example, be redistributed to the U.S. Secret Service, the Defense Intelligence Agency, and the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.

Ramaswamy says the Presidential Reorganization Act of 1977 provides “and important statutory basis” to go forward with his plan, as it allows him to submit plans to Congress about reorganizing an executive agency…

July 24, 2023: Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy is seeing his support tick up in the Republican presidential primary against former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, according to a Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll survey released Monday. (The Hill)

When respondents were asked whom they would vote for if the GOP presidential primary were today, 52 precent said Trump, 12 percent said DeSantis and 10 percent said Ramaswamy.

Trump lost 7 percentage points and Ramaswamy gained 8 points compared to the most recent survey before Monday.

When respondents were asked whom they would vote for in the GOP primary if Trump decided not to run, DeSantis sat at 29 percent – a decrease of 12 points from the previous survey – while Ramaswamy stood at 19 percent, an increase of 12 points. Former Vice President Mike Pence received 13 percent…

August 3, 2023: Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) said Sunday that 2024 GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s support for former President Trump represents a “complete lack of moral compass.” (The Hill)

“What I just heard was the complete lack of a moral compass,” Kaine said in an interview on ABC News’s “This Week.”

Kaine followed Ramaswamy’s interview, during which Ramaswamy repeatedly doubled down on his position that he would support the former president as the party’s chosen nominee, even if he were convicted of a crime. Trump faces more than 90 criminal charges in four separate indictments.

“If you are unwilling to say that the behavior of Donald Trump trying to overturn the peaceful transfer of power is a disqualified, if you pledged despite that to vote for him, if you pledged despite that to pardon him should you be elected, it shows that you don’t have the moral compass that you need to be the leader of the greatest nation in the world,” Kaine said.

“And, sadly, Mr. Ramaswamy is not alone in lacking the compass. I think that was displayed pretty patently by many of the GOP candidates on the debate stage,” Kaine added.

Ahead of the first primary debate late last month, all debate participants were required to sign a pledge to support the ultimate nominee. When they appeared on the stage, they were asked whether they would support Trump if he were a convicted felon but still the Republican nominee…

August 7, 2023: Vivek Ramaswamy suggested canceling Juneteenth, calling it a “useless” holiday in conversation with Iowa voters Saturday. (NBC News)

Less than two months ago, however, he posted a video on social media celebrating the day.

Breaking down his plan to institute a national voting holiday, Ramaswamy, a GOP presidential candidate, proposed making space for the new holiday by canceling an old one.

“Cancel Juneteenth or one of the other useless ones we made up,” Ramaswamy told an applauding crowd gathered at a welding company here.

Asked by NBC News to clarify whether he thought Juneteenth was a “useless” holiday, Ramaswamy said, “I basically do.”

Less than two months ago, on Juneteenth itself, he spoke differently about the celebration…

August 18, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy suggested Friday if elected in 2024 he would run the government like tech billionaire Elon Musk runs the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. (The Hill)

“What [Musk] did at Twitter is a good example of what I want to do to the administrative state,” Ramaswamy said in an interview on Fox News’s “The Ingraham Angle.” “Take out the 75 percent of dead weight cost, improve the actual experience of what it’s supposed to do.”…

August 18, 2023: Republican presidential candidate and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy is facing two lawsuits from former employees who say that when they worked at the company he cofounded, Strive Asset Management, they were aggressively pressured into violating securities laws, according to Bloomberg, which first reported these lawsuits Friday morning. (Forbes)

Joel Rosely – who filed a lawsuit Aug. 8 in New Jersey that names Ramaswamy, Strive Asset Management, and cofounder Anson Frericks as defendants – alleges she was fired as co-head of institutional sales because she raised concerns about an executive making aggressive sexual advances toward a lower level staffer at the firm and about securities laws violations.

Rosely also claims Ramaswamy and Frericks pressured her into using sales materials that promised customers future returns and allowing unregistered employees to make sales pitches to customers, which both constitute securities violations…

…Another lawsuit was filed in June by John Phillips, who said he was lured to Strive Asset Management from his previous JPMorgan job on false promises that the firm had good financing and that Ramaswamy, who promptly quit to run for president, was committed to the company…

August 21, 2023: Standing in a packed New Hampshire restaurant, Vivek Ramaswamy, the fresh-faced Republican shaking up the 2024 presidential race, is making a case for unifying a bitterly divided nation. The secret, he insists, is as American as apple pie: capitalism. (Forbes)

…At 38 years old, the biotech investor and “anti-woke” warrior is worth more than $950 million. His net worth was over $1 billion about a week ago, making him one of the youngest billionaires in the country, before a downturn in the market pulled him just under the billion-dollar threshold, according to Forbes’ calculations. Still, he appears to be the second-wealthiest person competing in the Republican presidential primary, behind only Donald Trump (whose net worth Forbes last pegged at $2.5 billion)…

…Then there are his political interests. In 2021, Ramaswamy stepped down as CEO of Roivant and got into politics, authoring a book called “Woke, Inc.,” which criticized corporate America’s growing focus on social justice issues and the ESG (environmental, social and governance) movement taking over Wall Street. A year later, he founded an “anti-woke” index fund provider – think BlackRock, without all the talk about saving the world – named Strive Asset Management. Investors recently valued Strive at a lofty $300 million or so, according to two individuals familiar with the financing, implying that Ramaswamy’s state is worth well over $100 million…

…Despite all his money and connections, Ramaswamy looks pretty comfortable doing a meet-and-greet politicking in New Hampshire. It helps, he says, that he doesn’t live like a tycoon. “I don’t think we have lived a lifestyle that is radically removed from the one we grew up in.”

He owned two Ohio homes worth a combined $2.5 million, less than the real estate portfolios of far-less-wealthy candidates, including Nikki Haley, Francis Suarez, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and President Joe Biden. “We don’t have a giant vacation homes,” Ramaswamy says. “We see five of our neighbor’s backyards. We have good relationships with our neighbors.”…

August 27, 2023: At the conclusion of Vivek Ramaswamy’s second campaign stop here on Saturday – his sixth event out of eight over two days in Iowa – his staff rushed him toward their campaign bus. The businessman-turned-politician was late for a flight across the state to his next event. But as reporters and camera crews crowded the bus to see him off, Ramaswamy stopped and took time for questions. (CNN)

It was hardly a new occurrence. He’d held impromptu press availabilities after nearly every event on this tour up to that point. More striking was that, nearly 72 hours after playing a starring role in Wednesday’s heated and highly combative Republican primary debate, he was still taking stock of the defining moment on his campaign thus far.

“I think it’s a major accomplishment that many people are able to pronounce my name now. That’s the true mark of a real milestone on this campaign,” Ramaswamy joked. “If we got there, anything’s possible.”…

September 1, 2023: Fox News Anchor John Roberts pressed Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy over his views defending Taiwan from China during an interview Friday. (The Hill)

Ramaswamy has isolated himself from the rest of the GOP primary field on a number of key policy issues, including not supporting continued aide for Ukraine in its war against Russia, and a radical proposal to cede territory taken by Russia in eastern Ukraine in exchange for Moscow ending its military alliance with China.

The tech entrepreneur’s views on Taiwan are another example of his unique agenda.

Roberts confronted Ramaswamy over his stance that America should only support Taiwan because it produces semiconductors…

September 8, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says that as president, he would deport American-born children of undocumented immigrants. (NBC News)

“The family unit will be deported,” said Ramaswamy when asked by NBC News if the deportations would include American-born children, after a packed town hall here Friday.

These children, however, are U.S. citizens, regardless their parents’ immigration status. The 14th Amendment states that “all persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and the State wherein they reside.”

When asked again if these children would be deported along with their families Ramaswamy doubled down.

“That is correct,” he said…

September 10, 2023: Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign hats that were made in a repressive country still found their way out on the campaign trail last week even after the Republican presidential candidate said he’d stop distributing them. (Raw Story)

According to a Raw Story source who requested anonymity to protect their job, “Truth, Vote Vivek.” hats were handed out as recently as last Wednesday at a campaign event in Iowa. And Ramaswamy posted a video on X Saturday showing him personally putting on the black baseball cap on a supporter.

Each was several days after Raw Story broke the news that Ramaswamy’s black baseball caps where manufactured in Myanmar, a country rife with human right atrocities and led by a military junta that has close ties with China – a country with which Ramaswamy is campaigning to cut dependence…

…Ramaswamy’s campaign had pledged to ditch the made-in-Myanmar caps after Raw Story asked about them.

“When this was brought to Vivek’s attention, he said we were changing. He was not aware at all of the source, and it has been changed,” Stefan Mychajliw, deputy communications director for Ramaswamy’s campaign, told Raw Story on September 8.

But that did not come to pass, and now, Mychajliw says he has “no idea” what happened to the remaining “Made in Myanmar” hats and “no knowledge” of them being distributed in Iowa last week…

September 21, 2023: Vivek Ramaswamy has sparked firestorm of criticism since launching his 2024 presidential campaign for comments that some have called racially charged. (The Hill)

Recently, the 38-year-old entrepreneur faced backlash for comparing Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Black Democrat representing Massachusetts, to “modern grand wizards” of the Ku Klux Klan. He has said that the U.S. education system is a “modern ghetto system,” that the government pays women in inner cities to be single, and has argued with former CNN anchor Don Lemon on what it was like to live as a Black person in America.

“I think there’s a pattern here, but to be honest, I will go one step further and say that this is a cornerstone of his campaign,” said Brandon Weathersby, presidential communications director for he American Bridge PAC.

“Just because you deliver it with a smile, just because it’s a little more palatable, doesn’t mean that it’s not going to have a lot of the same negative implications Norfolk’s or literally feeling like there’s a target on your back when you go outside or when you go into certain communities, because that rhetoric has been normalized.”…

…Earlier in August, Ramaswamy promised that if he secured the GOP nomination, he would “bring along voters of diverse shades of melanin in droves,” to win the general election.

But his rhetoric on race only continues to draw criticism, with some experts saying his comments do not speak to Black voters at all…

September 27, 2023: Vivek Ramaswamy, a multimillionaire former biotech executive, has a chance to build on the attention he’s been getting in the race for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination at Wednesday night’s second debate. (Reuters)

…In recent years, Ramaswamy has become a fierce conservative. In his 2021 bestseller “Woke, Inc.,” Ramaswamy decries decisions by some big companies to base business strategy around social justice and climate change concerns, and lambasts “wokeism” as an insidious influence on hard work, capitalism, religious faith and patriotism. The book raised Ramaswamy’s profile among conservatives, and he began is rapid ascension as a right-wing star…

…Ramaswamy declared his campaign for president in February, at a time when his bid looked like a long shot. He still languishes in the single digits in most opinion polls but has been gaining on many of his rivals, most notably Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is now fighting to retain his second-place status.

Ramaswamy’s strong, pugnacious performance in the first debate last month, when he laid out an agenda even further to the right of Trump on some issues, earned him a lot of attention, as well as criticism, and boosted him in some Republican primary opinion polls.

He has been a fierce defender of Trump while seeking to appeal to Christian evangelicals, an important part of the Republican primary electorate. Although a Hindu, Ramaswamy has been telling voters that the U.S. is based on “Christian values” and “Judeo-Christian values” and has described himself as an American nationalist.

His policy positions are mostly deeply conservative. He opposes affirmative action and supports state-level bans on abortion after six weeks, with exceptions for rape, incest, and if the mother’s life is in danger. Ramaswamy wants to greatly expand the powers of the presidency and dismantle much of the federal government, including the FBI, the Department of Education, and the tax-collecting Internal Revenue Service…

September 30, 2023: Entrepreneur and 2024 GOP presidential primary candidate Vivek Ramaswamy expressed his negative view of the recently passed stopgap funding bill to keep the government funded on Saturday. (The Hill)

“My first reaction is the reaction it’s been for the last several days, which is this whole debate is a farce. It’s a deflection,” Ramaswamy told reporters following his speech at the California GOP convention.

He added, “Even if the government were gonna shut down, we know what happens every time. They get the back pay, it comes back bigger every time. We need to stop the artificial debate about fake government shutdowns and start having a real debate — how to achieve a true shutdown of the administrative state.”

His answer comes a few days after a recent GOP presidential debate in which he fell in support behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, according to a Washington Post survey of people who watched the debate…

October 1, 2023: GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s campaign is asking the Republican National Committee (RNC) to cut the number of candidates for the third debate down to four. (The Hill)

Vivek 2024 CEO Ben Yoho urged the RNC to limit the next debate to the top four candidates in national polling besides former President Trump in a letter addressed to RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel and Committee on Arrangements co-Chairs David Bossie and Anne Hathaway. He also asked the RNC to raise the donor threshold to 100,000 donors.

“But against the backdrop of a chaotic second debate and the reality of a frontrunner who has declined to participate, we respectfully call on the RNC to revise its approach so that Republican voters can focus on serious candidates who have a viable path to beating Joe Biden — or whomever the Democrats put up to replace him,” Yolo write in the letter obtained by The Hill.

To qualify for the Nov. 6 debate, Republican candidates will need to show two national polls that have them at 4 percent or higher, or they’ll need to receive 4 percent support in one national poll and two different early state polls.

Candidates also need to meet a donor threshold of at least 70,000 unique donors, including at least 200 from 20 or more states each.

Besides raising the threshold, the Ramaswamy campaign is asking the RNC to provide more time for candidates to respond to their rivals and to also use a single moderator “who is able to enforce debate rules and avoid candidates indiscernibly shouting over each other.”

“Time is running out. Early-state voting is rapidly approaching in January. Another unhelpful debate in November is not an option: voters deserve a real choice for who will best serve as our party’s nominee. Voters are not well-served when a cacophony of candidates with minimal chance of success talk over each other rom the edge of the stage, while overwhelming frontrunner is absent from the center of the same stage,” Yoho wrote…

November 11, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s national political director, Brian Swenson, is departing the campaign to work on former President Trump’s team, Ramaswamy senior advisor Tricia McLaughlin confirmed to The Hill. (The Hill)

…The development comes as Ramaswamy has been trailing Trump and several other 2024 Republican contenders, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, in early state polls.

The 38-year-old biotech entrepreneur launched his campaign in February as a little-known candidate in February as a little-known candidate, later emerging in the summer as a breakout star. But Ramaswamy struggled to keep up that momentum, including during the presidential debates as he became tangled in back-and-forths with Haley and former Vice President Pence.

November 20, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called out Democratic strategist Donna Brazile on Sunday, maintaining she “intentionally mispronounced” his name during a TV appearance. (The Hill)

The presidential candidate responded to a clip from “Real Time with Bill Maher” in which Brazil, the former interim chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), questioned how to pronounce Ramaswamy’s name…

…Ranaswamy, who was born in the United States to Indian parents, panned the former DNC head’s remarks on the show.

“I wonder what they’d do if a white Republican intentionally mispronounced Donna’s name & then told her to return ‘home’,” Ramaswamy wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, while sharing a laughing emoji”…

December 4, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said in an interview that he’ll “overpreform expectations” in Iowa and New Hampshire primaries next month. (The Hill)

During an appearance on NewsNation’s The Hill, Ramaswamy told host Blake Burman that he believes he has a good shot of winning state primaries in Iowa, Nevada, and New Hampshire.

Ramaswamy said that he plans one completing the “full Grassley” – visiting all 99 Iowa counties – twice in the first week of January, noting that he’s already attracted supporters who are first time caucus goers in the state.

“Many of the people come in to support us at the caucus are first time ever caucus goers, which means we’re going to shatter what the polls say, and I think there’s a surprise coming on January 15,” Ramaswamy told Burman.

When Burman asked if Ramaswamy wanted to overpreform expectations in those states, the entrepreneur turned presidential candidate reiterated his initial remarks…

December 11, 2023: A man from New Hampshire is facing federal charges after allegedly threatening to kill 2024 GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, according to an affidavit filed Saturday. (The Hill)

The threats were sent in text messages to the Ramaswamy campaign, which altered authorities.

Though the affidavit redacted the name of the candidate involved, Ramaswamy senior advisor Tricia McLaughlin, confirmed that it was about Ramaswamy.

Tyler Anderson is charged with transmitting in interstate commerce a threat to injure another person after he allegedly texted Ramaswamy’s campaign that he was going to kill the 38-year-old GOP millennial and attendees at a campaign event after receiving the text from Ramaswamy’s campaign inviting him to a breakfast, the affidavit said…

December 13, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said that he believes the Supreme Court should overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of the abortion pill mifepristone. (The Hill)

Ramaswamy said at a CNN town hall in Iowa on Wednesday that the case, which the court agreed earlier on Wednesday to hear, is about the authority that regulatory agencies have without direct authorization from Congress. He argued that the FDA exceeded its authority in approving the pill in 2000.

“It’s my opinion… that the FDA exceeded its statutory authority in using an emergency approval to approve something that doesn’t fit Congress’s criteria for what actually counts as an emergency approval,” Ramaswamy said.

The court agreed to take up the case following requests from the Justice Department and Danco, which is the manufacturer of Mifeprex, the branded version of mifepristone. The case could limit the availability of the drug.

The pill is commonly used throughout the country for abortions in the first 10 weeks of pregnancy, and about half of all abortions nationwide are conducted using the pill as part of a two-pill regimen, according to the Guttmacher Institute…

…”The people who we elect to run the government, they’re not even the ones who run the government right now. It’s the bureaucrats in those three-letter agencies that are pulling the strings today,” [Ramaswamy] said.

Ramaswamy added that as president, he would “shut down that fourth branch of government” and rescind “unconstitutional” federal regulations that Congress did not pass. He said mifepristone should be taken off the market until it goes through the process that other drugs without emergency approval go through…

January 15, 2024: Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy suspended his bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination on Monday and endorsed former President Donald Trump after finishing a distant fourth in Iowa’s leadoff caucuses. (Associated Press)

Ramaswamy said he made the decision after determining there was no path forward for him in the race, “absent things that we don’t want to see happen to in this country.”

The 38-year-old political novice, who sought to replicate Trump’s rise as a bombastic, wealthy outsider, said he called the former president earlier Monday evening to congratulate him on his victory in Iowa. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came in second, with former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley just behind in third.

Ramaswamy told supporters gathered at a Des Moines hotel that Trump, “will have my full endorsement for the presidency.”…

January 16, 2024: Ramaswamy was never really seen as a serious contender by many of his Republican rivals, but he is a right-wing figure who successfully used the 2024 cycle to boost his profile. Though he struggled to poll higher that the low single digits, his combative debate performances and nonstop media appearances helped him gain some measure of (relative popularity,) or, at least notoriety. He’s dropped out after coming in fourth place in the Iowa caucuses, and immediately endorsed Trump. (Vox)

…In his announcement video, he staked his candidacy on combatting the “woke left” and what he referred to as “new secular religions like Covidism, climatism, and gender ideology.”

“This is psychological slaver, and that has created a new culture of fear in our country that has completely replaced our culture of free speech in American, he said in the video…

…Ultimately, Ramaswamy struggled to overcome his rivals with far greater platforms, name recognition, donor networks, and war chests — many of whom arguably pioneered his brand of politics.