Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he will not run for president in 2024 as a Republican candidate, and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin is also looking unlikely to run, leaving room for the early voter favorites — former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“Susan and I have concluded, after much consideration and prayer, that I will not present myself as a candidate to become President of the United States in the 2024 election,” Pompeo said in a release posted on Twitter on Friday.
“It is simplest, and most accurate, to say that this decision is personal. The time is not right for me and my family,” he explained.
He said that he and his wife will continue to actively engage “as parents, Sunday school teachers, community leaders and business leaders,” adding that, “There remains much to do and the conservative cause is worthy.”
“To the team that’s been working alongside me to prepare for a campaign, thank you. Your work gave me the time and the space to seriously consider seeking the presidency and a real chance to earn the votes of Americans and to have had the chance to win,” he said.
Pompeo, who said he was considering a 2024 presidential campaign earlier this year, was polling low among other GOP candidates as well as hopefuls. A national Quinnipiac University poll from February found that he had the support of only 4% of voters surveyed.
Still, Pompeo hinted at a future bid for president, saying that he is 59 years old and that “there remain many more opportunities for which the timing might be more fitting as presidential leadership becomes even more necessary.”
Meanwhile, Youngkin, who was also listed among potential candidates for 2024, said he is focused on the Virginia General Assembly elections in November. But if he sticks to this timeline, he will miss the first Republican primary debate in August, as The New York Times reported. Waiting past the summer would push him behind other candidates in fundraising and voter favorability, making it unlikely for him to run.
Republicans who have already announced their bids for the 2024 presidential election include Trump, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
Yet, the latest Morning Consult poll shows Trump in the lead with 56% of support from Republican primary voters and behind him is Florida’s DeSantis, backed by 23%.
“If your name isn’t Donald Trump or Ron DeSantis, you start really far behind,” Scott Jennings, a Republican political strategist, told The Associated Press. “If you’re one of these folks that’s kind of looking at it, you don’t really have the luxury of time.”