Washington Wednesday: Running in Trump’s shadow

MARY REICHARD, HOST: It’s Wednesday, May 3rd, 2023. Glad to have you along for today’s edition of The World and Everything in It. Good morning, I’m Mary Reichard.

NICK EICHER, HOST: And I’m Nick Eicher. Time now for Washington Wednesday. And we start today with a look at the growing Republican presidential field.

Two more candidates have jumped in: Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson,

ASA HUTCHINSON: Today, I am announcing that I am a candidate for president of the United States.

And attorney-turned-conservative talk-radio host Larry Elder. More on him shortly.

REICHARD: As for Hutchinson, he just wrapped up two terms as Arkansas governor, and that’s the legal max due to term limits.

He’s a longtime public official, former U.S. attorney, former U.S. congressman, former official in the Department of Homeland Security.

Speaking on an ABC Sunday show, Hutchinson presented himself the stable “drama-free” alternative to Donald Trump:

HUTCHINSON: He does not define the republican party, and we have to have other voices. And to me and that’s the key thing for the future. And whenever you look at what’s happened with Donald Trump since he announced that he’s going to run again for president is that you’ve had continued chaos that has surrounded him.

EICHER: He endorsed Trump in 2016 but soured on him, saying now Trump is morally unqualified.

“The Presidency is not and should not be an office of vengeance or retribution,” as he puts it.

On the issues, Hutchinson governed as a pro-lifer. In 2021, he signed an abortion law that protects unborn children in almost every case.

HUTCHINSON: I signed it because it is a direct challenge to Roe vs Wade. That was the intent of it.

He’d later backtrack, saying that he regretted that it went too far. And he says he would sign a federal abortion ban only if it contains as he put it “the appropriate exceptions.”

REICHARD: Hutchinson was widely criticized for vetoing a bill that would protect minor children from so-called transgender medical interventions. He said he agreed with the bill in principle but that the language was too far-reaching.

He defended himself on CNN, making the argument that such a measure was inconsistent with principles of limited government.

HUTCHINSON: Sure, I’ve signed pro-life bills, and I know that there’s a role for government, even in the social issues. But we have to fundamentally ask ourselves, do we need to do this? Is there a better way? Is this something that we need to leave to the home, to the church — our faith leaders to handle?

EICHER: Hutchinson did sign into law conscience protections for doctors who don’t want any part of trans treatments.

He also signed a law that protects female athletes in Arkansas schools from having to compete against men.

The governor built a fiscally conservative, small-government record. He approved tax cuts. He streamlined government agencies, and politically he’s shown the ability to win over some Arkansas Democrats.

REICHARD: Now to Larry Elder, host of The Larry Elder Show.

He first ran for public office two years ago, and although he didn’t fare well, he’s undeterred.

Elder told California Insider that he brings a different voice to the table within the Republican field.

LARRY ELDER: The Democrats are real good at claiming that America is systematically racist and that virtually every issue has to do with race, because the Democrats know the most loyal part of their base are black people. And as long as you can convince black people that they’re under siege, that they’re oppressed, and we, by the way, are the saviors, they’re going to get that near-monolithic black vote, without which they cannot win.

EICHER: Elder says he wants to eliminate things like critical race theory and so-called “diversity, equity, and inclusion” policies in government.

He says, as president, he’d also focus on securing the border, on making school choice available, and overturning Democrat policies he says are “soft on crime.”

REICHARD: Here now is Kyle Kondik. He is an elections analyst and director of communications at the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics. Kyle, good morning!

KONDIK: Good morning.

MR: Well, let’s start with Governor Hutchinson. Now we’ve already seen him take jabs at Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. It seems like he’s really trying to position himself as a pragmatic mainstream Republican alternative to Trump. … Do you think that's the right play for him? Do you think that’s the right play for him?

KONDIK: Look, I think if he wants to win the nomination, I don't think it's the right play. You know, I think he is representative of a kind of old school establishment Republicanism, that just is not particularly in favor anymore in the party.
You know, I think that if, after January 6 than 2021, and the end of the Trump presidency, you know, if the Republican Party was interested in doing a lot of introspection, and also, frankly, after the 2022 midterms, which I think were disappointing for Republicans, if the party, again, was interested in in doing some introspection and kind of winding back the clock a little bit on where the party was going, and maybe trying to win back some of the lost suburban voters, Hutchison might be sort of like a logical choice for that. But but that's not where the party is necessarily.
And it's not even necessarily clear to me that, that the party from an electoral standpoint really should turn back the clock, because, you know, while they've lost some, they've lost people, they've picked up some voters too. But I just don't think that what Hutchinson is selling isn't necessarily what the GOP electorate is buying.
And I think that, you know, it shows that, you know, Donald Trump's poll numbers have been better lately. But DeSantis is still clearly his leading rival. There's not a whole lot of oxygen, really, for anyone else at this point, including Hutchinson.

REICHARD: Okay, well now let’s talk about where Larry Elder fits in this campaign. He’s not yet showing up in national polls. Kyle, do you think he’ll be able to build enough momentum to make it onto the debate stage?

KONDIK: You know, I would describe him as a minor candidate at this point. He was last seen, basically getting blown out in the California gubernatorial recall against Gavin Newsom in 2021. You know, maybe some of these lower tier candidates who are not, you know, previous officeholders like Larry Elder, maybe they'll have a moment in the sun the way that like Herman Cain did during the 2012 cycle. But, you know, again, those were more kind of open races where you had a lot of people who were undecided. The race was those races were fairly fluid. You know, right now, I wouldn't describe the race as all that fluid.
I mean, yeah, Trump is gaining and DeSantis is falling off. But again, between the two of them, they still, you know, combined register, you know, way more than a majority of support within the Republican Party and Trump himself often does get a majority of support. So Um, I don't see there's been much room for a lot of, you know, really other candidates at this point. We'll have to see if things get more fluid down the line. But as of now, I wouldn't describe the race that way.

REICHARD: Okay, now I want to go back to what you referenced earlier, not having to do with Hutchinson or Elder. It was after the midterms and Gov. DeSantis’ big win in Florida, that we saw that big bump for DeSantis. But lately, that bump seems to have faded. And as you mentioned, Trump is consistently over 50% in most primary polls. Kyle, what do you make of all that?

KONDIK: Oh, look, I mean, this is a party that I think is still by and large, pretty comfortable with Trump and frankly, you've also seen some fairly significant people, you know, sort of establishment figures within the party backing Trump, I'd say most notably, Steve Daines, Senator from Montana, who also happens to lead the National Republican Senatorial Committee. I thought it was a telling signal as to where a lot of elected Republicans might be in that whatever their concerns about Trump, they, they feel like they they want to stick with him. And so, you know, DeSantis has taken some hits recently, although he's, of course, not even a declared candidate for president yet. We do still have a ways to go here. But if you combine the fact that Trump is, you know, clearly leading in the polls, basically everywhere, I mean, there have been some polls that are linked to DeSantis that showed DeSantis doing well against Trump, but that's about it in terms of recent numbers, plus the fact that that Trump is displaying some level of institutional support within the Republican Party. You know, this thing it may be getting late, early in the sense that Trump seems like the clear favorite again. I mean, he probably was the favorite whole time, but a situation seems better now than it was a month or two ago. You know, again, there is still time, there's still time, other candidates are gonna get in including maybe even, you know, including DeSantis, quite possibly, and maybe others. There are some ongoing legal problems for Trump. And if in fact, he's indicted later on, there might be some sort of short term political benefit there. But maybe that gives other Republicans a case to make that not renominating Trump is too risky. But, you know, certainly, Trump is not collapsing. And in fact, the opposite seems to be happening.

REICHARD: Mmm-hmm. I’m wondering how important is announcing? So my question is will a race at the top of the GOP polls tighten once DeSantis does announce his campaign, assuming he does?

KONDIK: It's quite possible because sometimes the polls, particularly early on are sort of driven by media coverage. And when and if DeSantis becomes an official candidate, he will get a wave of news coverage in that. He'll probably do some sort of big rollout, he'll be, you know, very public, you know, more public than he's been so far. And that can have some bearing on on the polls. It's just a question of the how much does he restore some of his previous levels of support? I mean, actually, you know, even even now, in his diminished state, DeSantis is still polling fairly impressively for someone who is not an announced candidate never been, you know, Vice President, never been in a presidential ticket, never run for president before. But his position is not as strong as it was. And, you know, maybe maybe he'll restore his his past position, if and when he announces. And, you know, we're in May now, I would think that that that announcement, if it comes should be coming relatively soon.

REICHARD: Kyle Kondik is with the University of Virginia Center for Politics. Kyle, thanks so much!

KONDIK: Thank you.

WORLD Radio transcripts are created on a rush deadline. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of WORLD Radio programming is the audio record.