Trump Urged to Delay 2024 Launch After GOP’s Uneven Election

Tuesday night’s disappointing results for the GOP are raising new questions about Trump’s appeal and the future of a party that has fully embraced him, seemingly at its peril.

WASHINGTON (AP) — It was supposed to be a red wave that former President Donald Trump could triumphantly ride to the Republican nomination as he prepares to launch another White House run.

Instead, Tuesday night’s disappointing results for the GOP are raising new questions about Trump’s appeal and the future of a party that has fully embraced him, seemingly at its peril, while at the same time giving new momentum to his most potent potential rival.

Indeed, some allies were calling on Trump to delay his planned announcement next week, saying the party’s full focus needs to be on Georgia, where Trump-backed football great Herschel Walker’s effort to unseat Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock is headed to a runoff that could determine control of the Senate once again.

“I’ll be advising him that he move his announcement until after the Georgia runoff,” said former Trump adviser Jason Miller, who spent the night with the former president at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. “Georgia needs to be the focus of every Republican in the country right now,” he said.

The American People Want to Move On

Trump sought to use the midterms as an opportunity to prove his enduring political influence after losing the White House in 2020. He endorsed more than 330 candidates in races up and down the ballot, often elevating inexperienced and deeply flawed candidates. He reveled in their primary victories. But many of their positions, including echoing Trump’s lies about a stolen 2020 election and embracing hardline views on abortion, were out of step with the political mainstream.

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Trump lost some of the night’s biggest prizes, particularly in Pennsylvania, where Dr. Mehmet Oz, who only narrowly won his Senate primary with Trump’s backing, lost to Democrat John Fetterman. Trump-backed candidates also lost governors’ races in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Maryland, and a Senate race in New Hampshire.

While Republicans still appear well positioned to flip the House, and could ultimately take the Senate, too, those who had believed frustrations with record inflation, combined with President Joe Biden’s low approval ratings, would deliver swift and decisive victories were pointing fingers in the former president’s direction. The night’s message, they argued: The American people want to move on.

“I mean, we had a historic opportunity and Trump’s recruitment of unelectable candidates blew it for us,” said Scott Reed, a veteran Republican strategist. “Trump’s now lost three elections in a row for the Republican Party and it’s time to snap out of this foolishness.”

Trump Brand Tanks

Trump, meanwhile, insisted publicly he was happy with the results.

But Republican strategist David Urban, a former Trump adviser, said the Trump brand is wounded no matter what the former president says.

“Of course, he’s going to claim victory, right? The president touts an accomplishment record that includes victories in uncontested races. He can say whatever he wants. But how do people feel in America? I think people feel not great about the Trump brand right now,” Urban said. “It’s bad.”

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Some now worry that if Trump goes forward with his planned announcement next week, he could pave the way for a rerun of Republicans’ 2021 losses in Georgia by dominating the race.

Former Trump press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, who now works for Fox News, advised on air that Trump should hold off on an announcement until after the Georgia Senate runoff.

“I think he needs to put it on pause,” she said.

Trump’s setbacks, meanwhile, were giving new hope to the long list of potential rivals who have been quietly waiting in the wings and now face the decision of whether to run, too.

That includes Gov. Ron DeSantis, who emerged as the night’s obvious winner.

Miami-based Democratic strategist Jose Parra said the Trump rival enters the 2024 conversation with “a bunch of wind in his sails” after stronger-than-expected performance across the state — especially in south Florida’s Miami-Dade County.

Speaking at the White House on Wednesday, Biden said his “intention” is to run again. But noting the emerging competition between Trump and DeSantis, he said it would be “fun watching them take on each other.”

Associated Press writers Steve Peoples and Farnoush Amiri contributed to this report.