Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has announced he is running for president in the 2024 election, joining several other Republicans who have confirmed they are gunning for the party’s nomination alongside former President Donald Trump.
Hutchinson’s presidential campaign was made official during an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” ABC News reported.
“I have made a decision, and my decision is I’m going to run for president of the United States,” Hutchinson told ABC anchor Jonathan Karl, adding that “the formal announcement” will be held “later in April” in Bentonville, Arkansas.
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“The reason is, I’ve traveled the country for six months, I hear people talk about the leadership of our country. I’m convinced that people want leaders that appeal to the best of America, and not simply appeal to our worst instincts,” Hutchinson added.
Aside from Trump, who is mounting his third presidential campaign while facing criminal charges, other Republicans in the race include former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, businessman Perry Johnson, and former mayor Steve Laffey, according to ABC.
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Hutchinson, 72, said that he views himself as occupying the “non-Trump lane,” not the “anti-Trump lane.”
“When I say ‘non-Trump’, I want to be able to speak to the Trump voters,” he said. “I want to be able to speak to all of the party and say, ‘This is the leadership that I want to provide, and I think that we need to have border security. I think we need to have a strong America; we need to spend less at the federal level.’ These are the values that I represent.”
Hutchinson, a two-term governor of Arkansas, concluded his latest term in January and is term-limited from running for that office again. Previously he had been elected to three consecutive terms in the House of Representatives and served as head of the Drug Enforcement Administration under then-President George W. Bush.
