BEDMINSTER, New Jersey (WABC) — As the weather warms, the race for the White House heats up among Republicans and former President Donald Trump returns to New Jersey for the summer.
Trump returned to Bedminster after a campaign stop in Iowa, where he was on the attack, facing the governor of Florida.
“I’ve been watching DeSantis come out and say, ‘I’m eight years, they’re going to be 8,’ let me tell you one thing, you should vote against him right here, it’s going to take me six months to do that. We’ve got totally as it was, we’ll have it quickly,” Trump said.
Ron DeSantis insists he’s a better choice to take on President Joe Biden in the fall of 2024.
“We know the country is going in the wrong direction, we see it in virtually every indicator … the economy, the border,” DeSantis said.
Early polls show Trump with a significant lead over DeSantis.
“Republican voters feel they like Donald Trump, they like Ron DeSantis and they think Donald Trump is the stronger candidate,” said Monmouth University’s Patrick Murray.
The top three candidates in the GOP race are vying for the nomination with Trump, DeSantis and Nikki Hailey working to shore up their support.
But the field continues to widen with hopes that former Vice President Mike Pence will announce his candidacy next week along with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who experts say is seeking political revenge against Trump.
“I think Gas had an arsenal of attacks that he’s going to use that he thinks will be effective in discrediting Trump,” said Ross Baker of Rutgers University.
Christie’s first real crack at Trump comes during the first Republican debate this summer.
The first Republican presidential debate of 2024 will be held on August 23, the Republican National Committee announced on Friday, with a second debate the following night if necessary.
The RNC also detailed the criteria that will be used for candidates to qualify for the debate stage, including a pledge to support the eventual Republican presidential nominee. That requirement could keep some candidates off the stage, including Trump, who has not pledged to support the candidate if he doesn’t make it out of the primaries. Trump has also been questioned as to why he would participate since he has a significant lead in the GOP primary polls.
The debate will be held in Milwaukee, Wis., which will also be the site of the party’s nominating convention next year. It’s a nod to the importance of the battleground state, which will likely be key to a presidential victory again in 2024.
Trump has so far said he would not pledge to support the nominee if someone else wins the nomination, telling radio host Hugh Hewitt, “It would have to depend on who the nominee was.”
Christie, who plans to launch his campaign in New Hampshire next week, has said he would never endorse Trump as the party’s nominee in 2024, as he did in 2016.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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