President Trump has told close advisers that he is considering running for president in the 2024 election, according to a report from Axios.
Trump has yet to concede defeat to Democrat Joe Biden in the 2020 election, but networks have projected the former vice president as the winner, as Trump would likely have to win a series of recounts in multiple states to win the election.
The president appears to have lost five states to Biden that he won in 2016, but he also piled up more total votes than he won in 2016, which has given him some clout within the GOP despite the loss.
If he decided to make another run for the White House in 2024, he would be the odds-on favorite in a GOP primary given his level of support among Republican voters.
U.S. presidents are only allowed to serve two terms, but those terms are not required to be consecutive. The only president in history to serve two non-consecutive terms is President Grover Cleveland, who served as the 22nd and 24th president.
Two other recent presidents who lost their reelection bids, Jimmy Carter in 1980 and President George H.W. Bush in 1992, were defeated fairly soundly and did not run for reelection again.
President Gerald Ford was narrowly defeated by Carter in 1976 and did not run for president in 1980. But Ford also never won a presidential election. He became president after President Nixon’s resignation, and Ford was not actually on the 1972 presidential ticket.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said Monday that Trump should run again in 2024 if his legal battles do not win him the election in 2020. The Trump campaign has launched suits challenging vote counts in several states.
“I would encourage him to think about doing it,” said Graham on Fox News Radio.
Many of Trump’s other allies have also suggested that Trump will run again in 2024. Former White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney said that he “absolutely” expects Trump to run again in four years.
“I would absolutely expect the president to stay involved in politics and would absolutely put him on the shortlist of people who are likely to run in 2024,” said Mulvaney.
As Axios reports, some Republican campaign advisers are wary of another Trump election, believing the possibility of another run could stop fundraising and ambitions for other Republican presidential contenders. They also fear another campaign could stymie the Republican National Convention as attempts to reassess and move on from Trump.