On Monday, former South Carolina Governor and UN ambassador Nikki Haley announced her candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States. U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, who has already announced his endorsement of former President Donald Trump, welcomed Haley’s entrance into the 2024 presidential race.
Tuberville told reporters that she would be a “great candidate.”
Tuberville favors a large GOP primary field and said that he has recently spoken with Trump and told the former President that he hopes “they all get in.”
“He needs the challenge as well as anybody,” Tuberville said. “They need to work for it. They need to fight for it.”
In the 2020 election, President Trump endorsed Tuberville in his Republican primary battle for U.S. Senate with former Trump Attorney General Sen. Jeff Sessions.
Tuberville had spent forty years as a teacher and coach – including stints as head football coach at Ole Miss, Auburn, Texas Tech, and Cincinnati – prior to that 2020 first run for public office.
At this point, the only announced GOP candidates for the Republican nomination for 2024 are Haley and Trump, but that is expected to change quickly.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are widely believed to be seriously looking at entering the race.
According to the Hill, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, New Hampshire Gov. John Sununu, former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin are also possible presidential candidates.
GOP Senators who oppose a third Trump presidential run fear that a crowded GOP primary field makes it easier for Trump to emerge as the eventual GOP nominee.
“Look, we were all concerned with the fact that we had 15 or 16 or 17 individuals vying for attention in the last one,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (South Dakota) told the Hill referring to the 2016 election. “We really don’t want to see that happen again. We just don’t.”
U.S. Sen. Katie Britt was endorsed by Trump in her 2022 GOP primary battle with then-Congressman Mo Brooks and war veteran and defense contractor Mike Durant. Britt, however, cannot make an endorsement in the Presidential primary because she is serving on the national Republican steering committee.
Trump faced a crowded field in 2016 that included U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, Rick Santorum, and Lindsey Graham, as well as former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, former Ohio Governor John Kasich, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, then-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, businesswoman Carly Fiorina, former Virginia Gov. Mike Gilmore, former New York Gov. George Pataki, then Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, and Dr. Ben Carson.
Trump won the 2016 Alabama Republican Primary despite the crowded field. Trump went on to win the Republican nomination and then beat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the general election. Trump was unseated by former Vice President Joe Biden in 2020.
Biden appears to be virtually unopposed at this point for the 2024 Democratic nomination for President.
The 2024 Alabama Republican Primary is only 55 weeks away on March 5. DeSantis will speak to the Alabama Republican Party in Birmingham on March 9.
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
