Crenshaw pours cold water on 2024 White House bid: ‘Something will emerge’

Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) poured cold water Thursday on any speculation that he could run for president in 2024, saying a bid “doesn’t seem very tempting.” 

Crenshaw, who was first elected to a Houston-area House seat in 2018, did not definitively reject a presidential campaign, telling radio host Hugh Hewitt he’s “pretty much” ruling it out.

“I don’t know. It’s not tempting. It’s also four years away. I think we’re tripping all over ourselves trying to figure out who’s going to be on the ticket in four years,” he said.

“I think everybody needs to chill just a little bit and let it happen as it will, because then something will emerge,” he added. “But yeah, I would say pretty much, pretty much ruled it out.”

Crenshaw’s rapid rise to prominence in the Republican Party has sparked speculation he could be considering loftier jobs in the future.

He first grabbed national headlines in November 2018 right before that year’s elections when his appearance was mocked on “Saturday Night Live.” The Texas Republican lost an eye while serving in the Navy in Afghanistan, and he appeared on the episode’s next show to accept an apology. 

That controversy helped propel him in the eyes of Republican voters and lawmakers who had long accused liberals in show business of staring down their noses at conservatives.

Crenshaw won election in 2018 by about 7 points. Democrats heavily targeted him last year in an attempt to flip his diversifying, suburban district, but he won reelection by double digits.

His comments on the 2024 presidential race come amid internal divisions within the GOP following the end of Donald Trump’s presidency. While some Senate Republicans have begun distancing themselves from the former president, House Republicans continue to embrace him and Trump maintains his vise-like grip on the party’s grassroots.

The former president won the straw poll at last week’s Conservative Political Action Conference, with 55 percent of respondents saying they would vote for him in a hypothetical 2024 primary.

Crenshaw has aligned himself closely with Trump since arriving in Washington in 2019, though he told Hewitt the former president is “technically” no longer the leader of the GOP.

“I mean, that’s the real question, right? Is Trump still the leader? And I say well, I mean not technically, no,” Crenshaw said. “It’s not clear. It’s not meant to be clear. I think there’s a lot of pushing and pulling from either side of the party.”