Former United States President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he would run for the U.S. presidential race again in 2024.
The announcement came after the “red wave” Republicans were hoping for in the midterm elections fizzled out, and many Trump-endorsed candidates lost their races including Pennsylvania senate candidate Dr. Mehmet Oz and Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano.
In the primary, Trump will likely run against Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and possibly former Vice President Mike Pence, who is considering running.
Pence said on ABC’s “World News Tonight” on Monday that he and his family are giving “prayerful consideration” to whether he should run.
The Republican Party had been anticipating Trump’s announcement and remains divided on which candidate to support.
PA State Sen. Dan Laughlin (R) from Erie pointed to Jan. 6 and Trump’s doubts about the 2020 election results and his supporters as to why the “red wave” never came in an ABC 27 interview.
“The whole election denier stuff, the Jan. 6 stuff, all of it is on [Trump’s] shoulders,” he said, “and quite frankly that’s why we didn’t have a good midterm election cycle, and I think America knows that.”
However, not all Republicans know that.
“All party leaders should be working with President Trump and his team on figuring out the best plan to win and not wasting time and resources in finding an alternative,” a former state representative and chairman of the Republican Committee of Beaver County Jim Christiana said.
The same day Trump announced his campaign, former Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Allen Weisselberg testified against him. Weisselberg said Trump “personally green-lighted” untaxed benefits according to Rolling Stone.
Prosecutors allege in the case that the Trump Administration illegally allowed Weisselberg to take $1.7 million of untaxed income. In August, he pleaded guilty to a 15-count indictment related to those claims.
Whether this will affect the Trump campaign remains unknown.
