Asa Hutchinson is a former Arkansas GOP governor
A Remark on the 2024 Republican Primary Field: What Is It Telling Us About the First Presidential Caucus? Comments on the Late-Time Progress of Hutchinson
Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas, announced that he will challenge Donald Trump in the Republican presidential primary in four years.
“This is one of the most unpredictable political environment that I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Hutchinson said. I think that my message of experience, of consistent conservatism and of hope for our future and solution of problems that face Americans speaks well to me.
The GOP primary field is still in its early stages. Trump announced a third presidential campaign in the year preceding, while Haley, the former South Carolina governor and US ambassador to the UN, became the first major challenger to challenge him. Some of the Republicans, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, have been making moves suggesting they are interested in running for president.
No single person is more important than the office. For the sake of the presidency, I think it is too much of a sideshow and distraction. He needs to be able to concentrate on his process.
Following Trump’s indictment by a Manhattan grand jury last week, Hutchinson has been the rare Republican to call on the former president to drop out of the 2024 race, telling CNN’s Anderson Cooper on Friday that the case was a “big distraction.”
The former governor previewed his pitch to voters, arguing that the swirl of uncertainty around Trump, along with the substance of the allegations against him in multiple jurisdictions, “should give Americans pause.”
The news came just days after he spent time in Iowa, the site of the first Presidential caucus, fueling speculation that he would announce his intentions to run.
In the early stages, multiple candidates that have an alternative vision to what the president has is good for our party and good for the upcoming debate in August, told Hutchinson last month.
It’s thought that a crowded 2024 GOP primary field would be beneficial for Trump, who is popular among party members and still has a chance at the nomination.
The narrow will probably narrow quickly. We need to have a lot of self-evaluation as you go along, but I think more voices now that provide alternative messages and problem-solving and ideas is good for our party,” he added.
A Conversation with Tim Hutchinson: Why Trump Shouldn’t Run for a White House: After Trump’s Decline to Impeach Donald Trump
Hutchinson lost his bid for Arkansas governor. Following the 2012 shooting massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, he was appointed by the National Rifle Association to investigate school safety and how to improve it as part of the gun lobby’s school safety initiative. He won the first of his two terms as Arkansas governor in 2014, when the state moved to the right.
He butted heads with the Republican legislature, including when he vetoed a bill that banned gender-affirming treatment for anyone under the age of 18. Explaining his veto, Hutchinson called the bill “vast government overreach.” The legislature was able to overturn his veto.
Hutchinson attended the University of Arkansas law school and graduated from Bob Jones University with an accounting degree.
President Ronald Reagan tapped him to be the US attorney for the Western District of Arkansas in 1982, making him the youngest federal prosecutor at the time at 31. He gained prominence for his prosecution of a White supremacist group when he wore a bulletproof vest to stop the FBI from ending the standoff.
After losing bids for US Senate in 1986 and for Arkansas attorney general in 1990, Hutchison was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1996 from the state’s 3rd Congressional District. He succeeded his brother, Tim, who was elected to the US Senate.
Hutchinson was part of the GOP team that tried to prove that Clinton had committed perjury and obstruction of justice. The Senate acquitted Clinton on both articles of impeachment.
The announcement comes just two days before Trump is expected to surrender to authorities in New York following his indictment by a Manhattan grand jury over hush-money payments made to adult-film star Stormy Daniels to cover up an alleged affair. The first person to face a criminal charges in the White House was Trump. Hutchinson called on Trump to withdraw from the race.
The standard for any criminal charges in our society is that the grand jury found probable cause. That’s a departure from the rest of his party that has called the charges politically motivated.
