Conservative groups are looking beyond Trump for 2024 GOP nominee

NEW YORK (AP) — Two major conservative groups have signaled they are open to backing anyone other than Donald Trump in the 2024 White House race, the latest sign from an increasingly vocal segment of the Republican Party that it’s about time is to move away from him the former president.

David McIntosh, the president of the influential group Club For Growth, said Tuesday that the group has invited a half-dozen potential Republican candidates to its pledging summit in Florida next month, but Trump — the only declared lead candidate in the race so far — is not among them .

Instead, the group has invited Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who, along with Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and United Nations Ambassador, is viewed as Trump’s most dangerous challenger; former Vice President Mike Pence; former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo; Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina; and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

“We think it would be great for our members to hear them, to see what they have to say about where they want to take the country,” McIntosh said in an interview.

His comments followed a memo released over the weekend by conservative advocacy group Americans For Prosperity, which said the group was willing to support anyone other than Trump in the GOP primary.

Tensions between Trump and both groups aren’t new, but their willingness to volunteer on behalf of another candidate could only embolden at least a half-dozen potential rivals considering campaigning. Haley is expected to announce her 2024 campaign in South Carolina next week.

Both groups join several mega-donors who have signaled in recent months that they are looking elsewhere for a presidential nominee.

Trump is facing a whirlwind of legal troubles and has been blamed for the GOP’s underwhelming performance in last year’s midterm elections. However, he remains the most dominant figure in the party and was a prolific fundraiser, relying on a network of small donors.

Asked for comment Tuesday, Trump’s campaign referenced messages on his Truth social network in which he dubbed McIntosh’s organization the “Club For NO Growth.” He later released an additional message Tuesday calling the group “a collection of political misfits, globalists and losers.”

Club For Growth, an anti-tax group, opposed Trump during his 2016 campaign but became a great ally when he won the White House. But the group has been at odds with Trump for the past year after backing opposing candidates in Republican primaries, particularly in the Ohio and Pennsylvania Senate races.

McIntosh said the group is open to endorsing a candidate in the Republican presidential primary and potentially running ads on their behalf. But he made it clear that the group would support Trump in the general election if he became the nominee.

“One of the factors that we take into account is that the Democrats used him successfully in the last election to win a lot of races,” he said. “The nominee can win in the race for the presidency and people want to see that.”

Americans For Prosperity, founded by the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers, has long clashed with Trump. Her extensive network refused to endorse him or any other candidate in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

Trump has lashed out at the brothers in the past, calling them “total jokes” and “globalists” who are “against strong borders and powerful trade.”

In the new memo, the group said, “The best thing for the country would be to have a president representing a new chapter in 2025.” It said AFP’s political advocacy arm is ready to endorse a candidate in the GOP primary, “who can move our country forward and win” – with an added emphasis on “win”.

A spokesman for the group gave no further details about the process, including when the organization might make a decision on who to support and which candidates might enlist the group’s support.

The pro-business, pro-market group spent more than $30 million on publicity campaigning against President Barack Obama’s re-election in 2012. AFP’s political arm spent nearly $80 million on House and Senate nominees in the midterms of 2022, according to reports filed with the US federal Electoral Commission.

As more candidates enter the running in the coming months, AFP is expected to undergo an extensive review process based initially on each candidate’s political positions. The organization has long refused to endorse Trump because he was not seen as sufficiently conservative on trade and federal spending, among other issues.

However, AFP will also prioritize profitability as a key factor in the endorsement process. That way, the AFP — considered the largest and best-funded grassroots organization in the country — could help narrow the Republican field in 2024 by starving lower-ranking contenders for funding and attention.

Trump critics within the GOP fear the former president could benefit from a crowded field that ultimately split anti-Trump voice in early primary states.

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Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in New York contributed to this report.

Michelle L. Price, The Associated Press

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