Ex-Arkansas GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson is running for president
By: NBC News
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Link copied April 2, 2023, 1:39 PM UTC By Associated Press, Vaughn Hillyard and Julianne McShane
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson says he's running for president in 2024, offering himself as an alternative for Republicans ready to turn the party away from Donald Trump.
"I'm confident that people want leaders that want the best of the America, not those who appeal to their worst instincts," Hutchinson told ABC's "This Week" in an interview aired Sunday. He said he would make a formal announcement in April in Arkansas.
"I have made a decision and my decision is I'm going to run for president of United States," Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson, 72, left office in January after eight years as governor. He has ramped up his criticism of the former president in recent months, calling another Trump presidential nomination the "worst scenario" for Republicans and saying it would likely benefit President Joe Biden's chances in 2024.
In the interview that aired Sunday, Hutchinson sought to position himself as a moderating force on hard-line Republicans.
"That inspires me, when I see every day Americans just saying, 'give us good leadership, give us common stance, consistent conservatism, and optimism about our great country,'" Hutchinson said.
The former governor has been teasing a presidential run on the Republican ticket since he left office, telling NBC News in January he was "absolutely" considering it.
And earlier this year, Hutchinson's top two political advisers formed a super PAC to boost his possible bid.
No staffing decisions on the Hutchinson campaign have been formalized yet.
In addition to Trump, Hutchinson joins a Republican field that also includes former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to jump into the race in the summer, while U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are among those considering bids.
Hutchinson, who was term-limited, has been a fixture in Arkansas politics since the 1980s, when the state was predominantly Democratic. A former congressman, he was one of the House managers prosecuting the impeachment case against President Bill Clinton.
Hutchinson served as President George W. Bush's head of the Drug Enforcement Administration and was an undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security.
As governor, Hutchinson championed a series of income tax cuts as the state's budget surpluses grew. He signed several abortion restrictions into law, including a ban on the procedure that took effect when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last year. Hutchinson, however, has said he regretted that the measure did not include exceptions for rape or incest.
Hutchinson earned the ire of Trump and social conservatives last year when he vetoed legislation banning gender-affirming medical care for children. Arkansas' majority-Republican Legislature overrode Hutchinson's veto and enacted the ban, which has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge.
Trump called Hutchinson a "RINO" — a Republican In Name Only — for the veto. Hutchinson's successor, former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has said she would have signed the legislation.
Hutchinson, who signed other restrictions on transgender youth into law, said the Arkansas ban went too far and that he would have signed the measure if it had focused only on surgery.
Although he has supported Trump's policies, Hutchinson has become increasingly critical of the former president's rhetoric and lies about the 2020 presidential election. He said Trump's call to terminate parts of the Constitution to overturn the election hurt the country.
Hutchinson also criticized Trump for meeting with white nationalist leader Nick Fuentes and the rapper Ye, who has praised Adolf Hitler and spewed antisemiticconspiracy theories. Hutchinson has contrasted that meeting to his own background as a U.S. attorney who prosecuted white supremacists in Arkansas in the 1980s.
An opponent of the federal health care law, Hutchinson after taking office supported keeping Arkansas' version of Medicaid expansion. But he championed a work requirement for the law that was blocked by a federal judge.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hutchinson tried to push back against misinformation about the virus with daily news conferences and a series of town halls he held around the state aimed at encouraging people to get vaccinated.
And in response to Gov. DeSantis' vaccine skepticism, he told Chuck Todd of NBC News' "Meet the Press," "we shouldn't undermine science."
Hutchinson infuriated death penalty opponents in 2017 when he ordered eight executions over a two-week period, scheduling them before one of the state's lethal injection drugs was set to expire. The state ultimately carried out four of the executions.
The former governor is known more for talking policy than for fiery speeches, often flanked by charts and graphs at his news conferences at the state Capitol. Instead of picking fights on Twitter, he tweets out Bible verses every Sunday morning.
Associated PressVaughn Hillyard
Vaughn Hillyard is a political reporter for NBC News.
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It goes without saying that Hutchinson has no chance. The thing he will do best, although futilely, is criticize Trump. He is today calling for Trump to drop out of the race, which no other Republican has the balls to do.
At least he is criticizing Trump. I wish that more and better informed Republicans would. And, I would prefer an Asa Hutchinson Presidency to a DeSantis one. Not by much, though. They are backward on social issues.
Lindsey Graham resembles that comment!
They don’t want to lose in a primary election.
By not speaking out, they guarantee a loss.
For the presidential race, yeah. Not so much for their own re-election I think. The ones who lost in 2022 where the staunch election deniers, those who mostly kept quiet on that issue did ok and I suspect their reasoning is the same moving forward. If Trump has 32% of the Republican base, that's spread all around the country and they don't know how many they would be fighting against in their own districts / states.
So they see the Presidency as a race already lost, and are looking to secure their own seats?
Well, that makes sense.
The GOP politicians (those running for office) are a very tiny portion of the GOP membership. We see plenty of non-politicians carrying the water for Trump. It is they who enable his power (and cause the politicians to behave as they do).
Not necessarily that the presidential race is already lost, but they are definitely looking out for themselves first. That is after all what politicians do. Lets face it, once winning their election (or re-election) their #1 job is already what to do to get re-elected. Using the 2022 elections, they can see how going against Trump cost Republicans in their own primaries losing out to extreme Trump backers. Once the primaries are finished they may start to become more vocal but I wouldn't count on it. Problem I see is that Trump is still the favorite to win the primary but I do not believe he can win the general.
Correct and that is what I was trying to say. They know that there is still a sizable amount of Trump backers in the electorate and they saw what happened to moderates who did not vocally back Trump in '22 so they will stay quiet waiting out the primaries. Once the primaries we may hear more but I'm very worried that by then it will be too late.
Yes for the GOP politicians.
What I was pointing out is that the GOP politicians are a tiny sliver of the GOP membership. It is the GOP membership (all those people registered as GOP) who give Trump power.
All those in the GOP who are not Trump supporters are, by their silence, allowing the MAGA contingent to take down the GOP.
We can forget the politicians, they do what will get them votes; it is the voters (the supermajority of the GOP) who continue to enable Trump with their silence.
And just what did I say...
Yes, politicians will do what they do to get votes. But you are wrong when you broadbrush the voters, they could be staying silent just because they are busier dealing with their lives right now than an election that is two years away. How many Democrats are vocal all the time? You continue to push your way in order to have the last word, give it a fucking rest.
As usual, you turn a discussion into a fight and make it personal.
The reason is irrelevant. My point was that by staying silent, they empower Trump. So if they are staying silent for the reason you state, they still are staying silent and their silence is the problem.
See? You apparently agree they are silent yet somehow you have turned agreement into animosity.
Putin uses kompromat. Trump admires Putin. Not much to figure out here.
Good grief. The minimum age for PotUS is 35, not 70.
Hutchinson and that sort are depending on the hope that Trump will crumble as a candidate and he will pick up the pieces. In reality he will end up making Trumps nomination likelier.
Agreed. The more candidates, the easier for Trump to (again) win by plurality. The more weak candidates (i.e. individuals with character who will not stoop to Trump's childish tactics) the more Trump will look strong.
How is it possible that GOP members do not comprehend this?
Maybe Hutchinson can get 5 or 6 percent in Republican primaries. None of this is going to come from Trumps piece of the pie.
We have these 'normal' politicians that think things will proceed 'normally'. That will not happen as long as the MAGA cult represents a third , or more, of all Republicans .
I think GOP members know Trump is bad for the country , but they like certain things he says about the other side and want to have it both ways.
Given what has taken place over the last 6 years (and especially the last 2), how stupid must one be to think this is all going to just work out?
I'm not sure they've figured out how to do anything about it. Non-Republicans haven't had any luck talking the MAGA cult out of their brainwashing. I'm not sure sane Republicans will do any better, and many Trump supporters will just label them RINOs for trying. And without that third (or so), the GOP can't win in the general, and they know it.
very
Yeah, apparently not. They cannot seem to comprehend that step one is to stop making excuses for Trump. Step two is to start attacking him so that other GOP members might start catching the drift.
So detach from Trump and start healing for 2026 midterms.
I honestly think it will take longer than until 2026. The GOP leadership can detach from Trump, but they'll lose a lot of his supporters, and they can't afford the loss, as shown by last year's midterms. I don't understand the hold Trump has over those supporters, but many are still vehement Trumpists, and I don't see that changing soon. I wish I could say I thought otherwise.
Unfortunately, I think GOP leaders attacking Trump may possibly galvanize support for him.
They should have detached when he left office. Stupid. I can easily see it taking longer than 2026 but they need to start now.
Honestly, more of them should have made it clear during the 2016 campaign that he was not representative of conservative ideals, but they ended up embracing "alternative facts", they giddily jumped on the "fuck your feelings" bandwagon, they defended his xenophobia, anti-intellectualism, and incompetency, and overlooked his nepotism.
It was amazing (and sickening) watching the GOP transform into the mess it is today. Some like Romney stood up to Trump right away during his campaign. Attempting to educate voters ... they ignored him. Then, sadly, Romney actually considered the fake offer to be Trump's SoS (after the election).
The GOP resisted Trump for about 18 months and then finally acquiesced to his popularity. They remain in a state of stupefied acquiescence to this day.
They have no good reason to back Trump but they are compelled to do so for partisan reasons.
The Trump phenomenon has been the most pathetic display of partisan stupidity I have seen in my lifetime.
“The Trump phenomenon has been the most pathetic display of partisan stupidity I have seen in my lifetime.”
Frightening in its implicitly and simplicity.
Unimaginable in its place in our history.
Only hopeful that reason will supplant cynicism.
It has not done so in 6 years. Not sure what it will take to shock the GOP back into reality.
Perhaps losing the presidency and both houses of Congress, multiple governorships, state legislatures, and eventually the SCOTUS.
There will always be the blood red sections of our country that are only so willing to shed red blood, but eventually their party must disavow the lunatic fringe or they will go the way of the ‘know-nothings’ and become a footnote in our history.
Maybe some of them feel that your use of labels like "turd", fucking moron" and "steaming pile of shit" are trolling.
“…are trolling.”
Careful what one calls out as trolling, lest one be held to a standard one may not be adhering to.
Good advice. I don't label people, even those that I completely disagree with, "turd", fucking moron" and "steaming pile of shit" are trolling.
I myself don't have a trigger response to trolling, but is some one wonders why "our feelings about the former 'president' don't count and our hatred for him as the reasons we are out to get him at any cost and witch hunts, might just be a reaction to those kind of labels.
1 hopeful not wearing knee pads and greasing his/her lips ... wonders never cease.
We need another septuagenarian in the White House like we need a sharp stick in the eye.
Agree, boomers and pre-boomers have had more than their share of time to fuck mthings up.
Governor Hutchinson is the perfect GOP candidate. A christian dominionist and fetus worshipper. Can't get better than that.
Google didn't recognize this term, what does it mean?