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Former President Donald Trump announced his intention to run again in 2024 shortly after the 2022 midterm elections and following some disappointing results for Republicans.
So far, Trump is the only Republican to officially declare that he's seeking the party's nomination and he remains the favored choice among GOP primary voters in most polls.
However, the former president is facing ongoing legal troubles, including an FBI investigation into the handling of classified documents and criminal referrals from the House of Representatives' January 6 committee.
Trump has not been charged with any crime and the Department of Justice (DOJ) will make the ultimate decision on potential charges.
The former president has also seen his lead among Republicans slip in some recent polling as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has emerged as a serious contender for the party's nomination.
Whoever the nominee is will likely face President Joe Biden in 2024.
Newsweek has compiled a list of who might be the strongest contenders to challenge Trump in the Republican primaries.
Ron DeSantis
Florida's Republican governor won re-election easily in 2022 and he's shot to national prominence by embracing issues that animate Trump's base, particularly skepticism about COVID-19 mandates and the COVID vaccine.
DeSantis has recently purchased advertisements on Google and Facebook that target a national audience, according to The Washington Post, and he leads Trump in some polling of GOP primary voters.
A YouGov/The Economist poll conducted from December 17 to 20 showed DeSantis leading Trump with 48 percent to the former president's 40 percent in a hypothetical primary matchup.
A YouGov/Yahoo News poll conducted from December 15 to 19 showed Trump leading with 39 percent to DeSantis' 37 percent when other candidates were included.
With other candidates excluded, DeSantis led with 45 percent to Trump's 43 percent.
Other recent polls also show DeSantis ahead of Trump but the governor has made no formal announcement of a presidential campaign, while close Trump allies have taken aim at DeSantis.
In a sign that a Trump/DeSantis clash could be ugly, longtime Trump ally Roger Stone recently said the Florida governor would be "working in a Dairy Queen" if it weren't for Trump, while MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell suggested without evidence that DeSantis has benefited from voter fraud.
Mike Pence
Former Vice President Mike Pence has repeatedly teased a presidential bid and his team had to recently deny a false report that he had already filed paperwork to run in 2024.
However, Pence has made visits to Iowa and New Hampshire this year - both states that will vote early during the GOP primary process - and he endorsed Republican candidates in the midterms, some of whom were running against Trump-backed opponents. Pence has also reportedly been in talks with political donors.
A Pence campaign could face significant obstacles, however, as the former vice president has distanced himself from Trump and clashed with his former boss over Pence's actions on January 6, 2021 when he refused to reject Electoral College votes.
Trump and his allies have been highly critical of Pence and that could make it difficult for him to win the support he needs to challenge the former president among the GOP base.
Pence has also performed poorly in recent polls, with a YouGov/Yahoo News poll conducted from December 15 to 19 finding him with just 4 percent support in a hypothetical primary.
Chris Sununu
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu could be the dark horse of the 2024 Republican primaries after he told CBS News last week that if Trump is the party's candidate in 2024 he is "not going to be able to close the deal in November of '24."
"We just have to find another candidate at this point," the governor said.
Sununu has not yet declared an interest in running for president in 2024 but a Sununu-aligned political action committee (PAC) has begun running social media ads in the early-voting states of Iowa and South Carolina.
However, Sununu doesn't have the national name recognition that Trump, Pence and DeSantis currently enjoy. He's considered a moderate and recently won re-election to his fourth two-year term as governor by a 15-point margin.
Sununu has not featured in recent polls about the GOP primary but pollsters may choose to include him in the future.
Liz Cheney
Representative Liz Cheney may be the most prominent Republican critic of former President Trump and has played a key role in investigating him as vice chair of the House January 6 committee.
Cheney will not return to the House in January after she lost her primary in Wyoming's at-large congressional district to Republican challenger Harriet Hageman, who was endorsed by Trump.
In October, Cheney suggested she was mulling a presidential bid.
"I think 2024 is going to be really important," Cheney said. "It's going to be crucial that we elect people that will defend the Constitution. I haven't made a decision yet about what I'm going to do. We have a lot of excellent candidates. We have a lot of bad candidates too. So, I'll make a decision about that in the coming months."
If she chooses to seek the GOP nomination, Cheney would be facing an uphill battle. She's long been a target for harsh attacks by Trump and his allies and her defeat in the Wyoming primary means she'll no longer have her seat in the House of Representatives, potentially lowering her national profile heading into 2024.
She has also been polling relatively poorly, recording just 3 percent in the most recent YouGov/Yahoo News poll.
Nikki Haley
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley is seen as a close Trump ally and she previously said in April, 2021 that she wouldn't seek the 2024 GOP nomination if Trump announced he was running.
However, in November Haley said she would use the Christmas holiday to consider her options during a Turning Point USA event at Clemson University, her alma mater.
"We are taking the holidays to kind of look at what the situation is," Haley said.
She enjoyed 5 percent in the recent YouGov/Yahoo poll - beating Pence and Cheney but still far behind Trump and DeSantis.
Haley, who was U.N. ambassador for two years under the Trump administration, may have higher name recognition than Sununu but is a less prominent figure than DeSantis or Pence.
Mike Pompeo
Unlike Haley, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he would consider running in 2024 even if Trump announced another bid for the White House.
In December, Pompeo said he would announce his intentions in the spring of 2023, telling Fox News that he and his family were "thinking our way through this" and "trying to figure it out."
"We have to get this right for America," Pompeo said. "It's not about the Pompeos. This is about getting this right for the country. We got to make sure we do that, and I'm confident that the country will get it right come 2024."
A former CIA director, Pompeo has reportedly reached out to potential staff and dinged Trump in November following disappointing midterm results for Republicans, saying he was "tired of losing."
However, Pompeo polled just 1 percent in December's YouGov/Yahoo News poll.
About the writer
Darragh Roche is a U.S. News Reporter based in Limerick, Ireland. His focus is reporting on U.S. politics. He has ... Read more