2024 Republican Party presidential primaries


and caucuses of the Republican Party took place within all 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., and five U.S. territories between January 15, 2024, and June 4, 2024. These elections selected most of the 2,429 delegates to be sent to the Republican National Convention. Former president Donald Trump was nominated for president of the United States for a third consecutive election cycle.
In 2023, a crowded field of candidates emerged, including Trump, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, and wealth management executive Vivek Ramaswamy. Trump maintained a consistent lead in primary polling since the 2020 election. Among non-Trump candidates, DeSantis initially polled in a close second behind Trump, but his polling numbers steadily declined throughout 2023. Ramaswamy experienced a small polling bump in mid-2023, but this proved to be brief. Haley's campaign began attracting greater attention in the final months of 2023, though neither she nor any other candidate came close to Trump in polling. The Republican primaries were referred to as a "race for second" due to Trump's consistent lead in polls.
At the January 15 Iowa caucuses, Trump posted a landslide victory, with DeSantis narrowly beating out Haley for second place and Ramaswamy in a distant fourth. Following the Iowa caucuses, Ramaswamy and DeSantis dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump, leaving Trump and Haley as the only remaining major candidates. Trump then defeated Haley in the January 23 New Hampshire primary, albeit by a smaller margin of victory than he achieved in Iowa; he defeated Haley again in the February 24 South Carolina primary, Haley's home state, a month later. After Trump's overwhelming victories nationwide on Super Tuesday, Haley suspended her campaign on March 6, having only won Vermont and Washington, D.C. Her victory in the Washington, D.C. primary on March 3, 2024, made her the first woman ever to win a Republican Party presidential primary contest.
Some Republicans expressed concerns about Trump's candidacy due to his loss in 2020, his alleged role in inciting the January 6 Capitol attack, ongoing criminal cases against him, and the results of the 2022 midterms in which several Trump-endorsed candidates lost key races; many others supported him and decried the investigations as politically motivated, and Trump maintained high favorability ratings among Republican voters. Trump's eligibility to appear on the ballot was challenged by some voters and political leaders in Colorado, Maine and Illinois; these efforts were rejected by the Supreme Court of the United States in a unanimous decision. Trump became the presumptive nominee on March 12, with his victory in the Washington primary bringing him over the 1,215 delegate threshold needed to clinch the nomination.
On July 15, 2024, Trump and his running mate, U.S. Senator from Ohio JD Vance, were officially nominated as the Republican presidential and vice presidential candidates at the Republican National Convention. Trump became the first person to be the Republican nominee in three consecutive elections, and the second three-time Republican nominee, after Richard Nixon. The Trump-Vance ticket won the general election on November 5, defeating the Democratic Party ticket of incumbent Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Minnesota governor Tim Walz.

Results

'''Popular Vote'''

Candidates

During the 2024 election season, over 400 candidates filed with the Federal Election Commission to run for the Republican presidential nomination.

Nominee

Withdrew during the primaries

Other candidates

Other candidates

Timeline

2022

November 2022

A week after the 2022 midterm elections, former president Donald Trump announced at Mar-a-Lago that he would run again for the presidency in 2024. Trump was the first former president to run for president after leaving office since Herbert Hoover did so in 1940. When he won the Republican nomination, he became the first Republican to be nominated for president three separate times since Richard Nixon. After winning the general election, Trump became the only president other than Grover Cleveland to serve two non-consecutive terms.

2023

February 2023

On February 14, former South Carolina governor and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley released a video announcing her presidential candidacy.
On February 21, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy announced his presidential candidacy on Tucker Carlson Tonight.

March 2023

On March 2, businessman Perry Johnson, who had been deemed ineligible to appear on the Republican primary ballot in the 2022 Michigan gubernatorial election due to allegedly fraudulent signatures, announced his intent to run for president in 2024.

April 2023

On April 2, former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson announced his candidacy during an interview with ABC News' Jonathan Karl. On April 6, Hutchinson filed candidate paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.
On April 12, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina announced an exploratory committee to run for president.
On April 20, radio host and former California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder announced his campaign on Tucker Carlson Tonight.

May 2023

On May 19, Tim Scott submitted FEC paperwork to run. He announced his presidential run publicly on May 22.
On May 24, Florida governor and former U.S. representative Ron DeSantis submitted his FEC paperwork to run, and announced that he was running for president during a Twitter Spaces interview with Twitter owner Elon Musk.

June 2023

On June 5, former Vice President Mike Pence filed paperwork to run for president and North Dakota governor Doug Burgum released a campaign video. Pence's candidacy made him the first vice president to run against the president under whom he served since John Nance Garner in 1940.
On June 6, Burgum published an announcement opinion-editorial piece announcing his presidential run in The Wall Street Journal, making him the first person born in North Dakota to seek a major party's president nomination. The same day, former New Jersey governor and 2016 presidential candidate Chris Christie publicly announced a presidential campaign in New Hampshire.
On June 7, Pence publicly announced his bid with a campaign video. Also, Burgum delivered a public announcement speech in Fargo.
On June 14, Miami mayor Francis Suarez filed his run with the Federal Election Commission. He delivered a speech the next day at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library to publicly announce his campaign, as four other Republicans in the race had done in the last year.
On June 22, former CIA agent and representative of Texas Will Hurd launched a run, after previously expressing interest in launching a presidential bid.

August 2023

On August 1, Donald Trump was indicted a third time for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
On August 14, Donald Trump was indicted a fourth time for trying to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
On August 21, the slate of candidates that officially qualified for the debate was released: Doug Burgum, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Asa Hutchinson, Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Tim Scott.
On August 23, the first Republican candidates debate took place in Milwaukee, broadcast by Fox News. To be eligible for this debate, a candidate must have polled at least one percent, received donations from 40,000 individuals, and signed a loyalty pledge to back whoever ultimately wins the party presidential nomination. Candidates deemed eligible for the debate were Doug Burgum, Chris Christie, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Asa Hutchinson, Mike Pence, Vivek Ramaswamy and Tim Scott. Trump did not participate in the debate, instead filming an interview with Tucker Carlson that was released minutes before the debate was scheduled to begin.
On August 29, Francis Suarez suspended his presidential campaign, becoming the first major candidate to do so.

September 2023

On September 18, Donald Trump's campaign announced that he would be giving a speech in Detroit before striking United Auto Workers union members at the same time as the second debate in California. United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain pointed out that Trump's speech was being held at a non-union plant whose workers were not connected to the strike.
The requirements to attend the second debate were to be polling at three percent in at least three reputable national polls, while the donor requirement increased to 50,000 unique donations. As of September 26, the slate of candidates that qualified for the second debate and would attend included: Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, and Doug Burgum. Asa Hutchinson, who appeared for the first debate, did not qualify.
On September 27, the second Republican presidential debate took place at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

October 2023

On October 2, the Supreme Court of the United States declined to hear John Anthony Castro's case to disqualify Donald Trump from appearing on the ballot.
On October 9, former Representative Will Hurd withdrew from the race.
On October 17, judge for the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, Tanya S. Chutkan, issued a gag order on Donald Trump from targeting prosecutors, court staff or "any reasonably foreseeable witness" marking the first time in U.S. history where the speech of a presidential candidate was limited by the courts.
On October 20, businessman Perry Johnson suspended his campaign. Judge Chutkan lifted the gag order on Donald Trump to allow Trump's legal team to appeal the order.
On October 26, former talk radio show host Larry Elder suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump.
On October 28, former Vice President of the United States Mike Pence suspended his campaign.
On October 30, Judge Chutkan reinstated the gag order on Donald Trump.