The contest to become the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nominee is heating up further, with former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum making moves this week.
Pence filed paperwork for his White House bid on Monday, ahead of a launch event in Iowa on Wednesday.
Christie, who ran for president unsuccessfully in 2016, plans to announce his candidacy in New Hampshire on Tuesday.
Burgum released a campaign video on Monday in advance of a kickoff event on Wednesday in Fargo. He’s known in part for selling a software company to Microsoft
MSFT,
for $1 billion more than two decades ago.
Their entries come after two launches in late May, when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina both formally began their presidential campaigns.
Another South Carolina politician, Nikki Haley, an ex-governor and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, announced her 2024 run in February.
The other Republicans already in the race include former President Donald Trump, who is leading in polls, as well as former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
From MarketWatch’s archives (September 2022): In a conversation with MarketWatch, Vivek Ramaswamy says companies should ‘leave politics to the politicians’
And see: As DeSantis officially launches his presidential campaign, Trump has a big lead in the polls
The first official debate of the GOP presidential primary is slated to be held in Milwaukee in Aug. 23. The Republican National Committee said there will be a second debate on Aug. 24 if “enough candidates qualify to make it necessary.”
On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden officially launched his re-election campaign in April, with the move coming even as most Americans don’t approve of his performance. The president is talking up the strong job market and his legislative record.
Below is MarketWatch’s list of potential Republican presidential contenders and the status of their candidacies.
The list above features relatively high-profile names, but there are lesser-known GOP presidential hopefuls as well, such as Aaron Day, who is known in part for his 2016 run against former New Hampshire GOP Sen. Kelly Ayotte; Perry Johnson, a former gubernatorial candidate in Michigan; Steve Laffey, a former Cranston, R.I., mayor; and former Montana Secretary of State Corey Stapleton.
Among the prominent Republicans who have said they’re not seeking their party’s presidential nomination in 2024 are Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu.
Democrats are closing ranks behind Biden, although author and activist Marianne Williamson said she’s seeking the party’s nomination again and vigorously defended her decision to challenge the president in an extensive question-and-answer session with MarketWatch. Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. also is mounting a longshot challenge to Biden, having held a kickoff event for his campaign in April.
Among third-party candidacies, Cornel West, a former Ivy League professor now at Union Theological Seminary, said Monday that he’s a presidential candidate for the People’s Party.
Now read: Nikki Haley says ‘no Republican president will have the ability to ban abortion nationwide’
Also: Biden criticizes DeSantis over his Medicaid stance while in Florida
Plus: Billionaire investor Bill Ackman says JPMorgan’s Jamie Dimon should run for president
MarketWatch’s Robert Schroeder contributed to this article.
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