Republican Governor Vows ‘To Do Everything’ To Ensure Trump Won’t Be 2024 GOP Nominee

One Republican governor vows to do all he can to ensure former President Donald Trump is not the GOP nominee in 2024.

Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, who is considering a presidential run of his own, was asked by Jonathan Karl, co-anchor of ABC News’s “This Week,” whether he would vote or support Trump if the 45th president did win the nomination again.

“I’m going to do everything that we can to make sure there’s alternatives, that he is not the nominee. And, of course, that’s a – all depends upon who else is out there,” Hutchinson said in the interview that aired Sunday morning. “But I do not believe that Donald Trump should be the next president of the United States.”

“I do not believe that Donald Trump should be the next president of the United States…I think Jan. 6 really disqualifies him for the future. And so we move beyond that. And that’s what I’m going to be focused on,” Arkansas Gov. Hutchinson tells @JonKarl. https://t.co/xCAmiEc9Ly pic.twitter.com/LTm6SvsuqK

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 1, 2023

Trump announced a third campaign for the White House in November. It remains to be seen whether any significant members of the GOP will rise to challenge Trump, who remains popular within the party.

Though Hutchinson reiterated his longstanding view that the events of January 6, 2021 – the day of the Capitol riot – disqualifies Trump in 2024, he insisted it was “premature” when pressed on whether he would declare outright that no matter what, he would not support Trump. Still, he argued that Trump does not “define” the Republican Party and stressed there must be “other voices.”

A former administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, Hutchinson has now served as governor of Arkansas since January 2015. After winning re-election in 2018, he was barred from another bid due to term limits. Hutchinson has said he is “very seriously” considering a 2024 presidential run but was noncommittal on Sunday.

Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson warns RNC against putting up “obstacles” to unifying the Republican Party, telling @JonKarl that every candidate besides Donald Trump should have a chance to “showcase their skills and leadership capability.” https://t.co/xCAmiEc9Ly pic.twitter.com/LHc5zpVKvz

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) January 1, 2023

“I’m going to Iowa later this month. I’m excited about that. But no decision has been made now. And we can’t make a decision until a little bit later,” he said. “But I want to be a part of the solutions for America. I want to showcase that there – you can have leaders that address problems and offer solutions and ideas.”

Hutchinson and Trump found common ground during the 2020 election cycle when they both endorsed Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as Trump’s White House press secretary from 2017 to 2019 and is the daughter of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, as she ran to be the next governor of Arkansas.

Sanders won the contest and is set to be sworn in as the state’s first female governor on January 10.