And then there were four.
Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson becomes the fourth candidate to announce for the GOP Presidential primary next year. He joins, obviously, Donald Trump, as well as Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
The former Arkansas Governor was also the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, and has a cut a mostly conservative profile within his three decades in public office.
He does represent a departure from Trump’s other announced opponents, or even Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Hutchinson is all too happy to criticize him.
Hutchinson announced his candidacy in an interview with ABC News, and said that while the charges against Trump may be overblown, they are too much of a distraction, so the former president should drop out of the race. He may garner some attention for standing alone in this regard, and he could promote his largely conservative track record. He was one of the early adopters of a state-wide bans of transgendered athletes in sports. However, Hutchison did oppose a bill banning hormonal treatment for those under 18 who want to change their gender.
But, he became well known during the Covid crisis as he was one of the few governors nationwide not to institute a stay at home order. He also barely shutdown the state, even during the height of pandemic. For civil liberties advocates, he’d be an easy sell.
All in all, he’s struck a mostly conservative tone, and seems to be a right leaning country club conservative of yesteryear. The gentleman Mitt Romney type, which might be a tough sell.
Still, in terms of having any sort of guts to directly fire shots at the former president, Hutchinson stands alone. And while he hasn’t be ultra hard right, he’s been conservative enough to get support of suburban Republican as well as some evangelicals.
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