Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday the party will have a “crowded field” of candidates running for president in 2024.
Asked how he would respond to former President Donald Trump potentially launching another run, McConnell gave a broad assessment of what he expects the primary race to look like.
“I think we’re going to have a crowded field for president,” he said, without referring to Trump. “I assume that most of that will unfold later and people will be picking their candidates during a crowded primary field.”
While McConnell previously called Trump “morally responsible” for the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, he has also said he would still vote for the former president if he were the party’s nominee.
“I think I have an obligation to support the nominee of my party,” McConnell told Axios’ Jonathan Swan in April.
While Trump lost the 2020 election, he remains a powerful figure in the Republican Party. Trump has so far endorsed more than 200 candidates around the country, according to The New York Times. Some of his endorsements, including J.D. Vance in Ohio’s GOP Senate primary, were deemed essential to the candidates securing victory.
Trump has yet to announce his own 2024 candidacy but told New York Magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi on July 11 that he believes he would be successful if he chose to do so.
“Look,” he said, “I feel very confident that, if I decide to run, I’ll win.”
The ex-president added that his big decision will be whether to launch his bid before or after the midterm elections in November.
Trump’s fundraising recently has taken a hit, slowing in the first half of 2022 for the first time since he left office in January 2021. This stands in contrast with other Republicans, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is seen as a top contender.
Other Republicans could throw their hats into the ring, including former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who gave her biggest hint yet on Monday.
“No deal is better than a bad deal,” she said, slamming President Joe Biden for seeking to reinstate the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, according to The Hill. “And if this president signs any sort of deal, I’ll make you a promise. The next president will shred it on her first day in office.”
“Just saying, sometimes it takes a woman,” she continued.