Hutchinson hints decision near on run for president

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson said Sunday during an interview with CNN that he could make a decision about a possible presidential run next month.

When asked about his plans to run in the 2024 presidential election, Hutchinson said: “March is a message month … April is decision time, and we will stick to that plan.”

Hutchinson in past interviews stated that his decision on whether to run for president in the 2024 election would come after the November midterm elections.

“I am full of energy and am pretty concerned about the direction of it and my party, and as you have all probably seen, I want to be a voice of problem solving in government and not creating chaos, so that is my mission,” said Hutchinson in coverage from June of 2022. “Stay tuned and hope we can do some good things after my term as governor, and we will see where that leads.”

Hutchinson’s comments followed news that former Republican Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has decided not to run in the presidential election — citing concerns that several Republican governor nominees might result in a “multicar pile-up.”

“More voices in opposition” or alternatives to Donald Trump are “the best thing in the right direction” for the Republican party, according to an interview with CNN.

The former governor has been vocal about his opinion of Trump during morning talk shows.

“This is not 2016, Donald Trump is a known quantity and he makes his message of revenge clear,” Hutchinson said. “We don’t need to be led by arrogance and revenge in the future.”

Hutchinson, 72, first took office as governor in 2015.

Prior to his work as governor of Arkansas, he worked as a federal Homeland Security undersecretary, federal Drug Enforcement Administration director, 3rd District congressman and a U.S. attorney.