Is Abbott on GOP list for the White House?
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is on a short list of potential Republican contenders for the White House in 2024who have been invited to a key meeting in Florida in January organized by national GOP leaders.
Abbott and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz are reportedly two of about a dozen potential 2024 White House contenders that Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel has invited to the RNC’s annual winter meeting. The invitation, first reported by Politico, is being seen as an attempt by McDaniel to assure potential 2024 GOP contenders that although the RNC has been an arm of Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, it is going to be open to other potential nominees heading into 2024, whether Trump runs again or not.
It’s the strongest signal yet that other national leaders see Abbott, 63, as a contender for the White House going forward. Abbott is in his second term as governor and has seen his national influence growing. Hewas tapped last year to lead the national Republican Governor Association which became a key player in helping Republicans win eight of 11 gubernatorial rac
es across the nation this year. Republicans now hold the governorship in 27 states.
The governors association has been a springboard for past governors considering running for president to expand their influence nationally. Then-Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christi were leaders of the group before their presidential campaigns.
Asked last month if he would consider running for the White House during a radio interview on KSKYAM in Dallas, Abbott didn’t rule it out. He has announced he’ll seek re-election to his current post in 2022.
“You know, one thing that you know about me, I take one step at a time,” Abbott told host Mark Davis. “The first step is to win reelection and after that, Mark, we’ll see what happens.”
Cruz, 49, hasmade clear he hasn’t lost his ambition to run for the White House. In 2016, he was the runnerup to Trump in the Republican presidential primary.
“Look, I hope to run again,” Cruz said at a breakfast organized by the Christian Science Monitor last year. “We came very, very close in 2016. And it’s the most fun I’ve ever had in my life.”
Besides Abbott and Cruz, other invitees to the RNC meeting on Amelia Island in Northeast Florida, according to Politico, include South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley, and Florida Sens. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio.