2024 election: Donald Trump returns to Bedminster for summer as political race heats up

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BEDMINSTER, New Jersey (WABC) — As the weather heats up, 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, taking on the Florida governor.

“I watched DeSantis come out and say, ‘I’ve got eight years, it’s going to be 8 years,’ I’ll tell you something, that’s where you have to vote against him, it’s going to take me six months to make it all the way it was , we’re going to have a quick one,” Trump said.

Ron DeSantis pressed the point that he is a better choice to face President Joe Biden in the fall of 2024.

“We know the country is going in the wrong direction, we see it in almost every indicator … the economy, the border,” DeSantis said.

Early polls show Trump with a big lead over DeSantis.

“Republican voters feel they like Donald Trump, like Ron DeSantis and think Donald Trump is the stronger candidate,” said Monmouth University’s Patrick Murray.

The three main candidates in the GOP race are stamping their claim for the nomination with Trump, DeSantis and Nikki Hailey working to grow their support.

But the field continues to widen where former Vice President Mike Pence is expected to announce his candidacy next week with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who experts say is seeking political revenge against Trump.

“I think he’s got an arsenal of attacks that he’s going to use that he thinks will be effective in destroying Trump,” said Ross Baker of Rutgers University.

Christie’s first real crack at Trump came in the first Republican debate this summer.

The first 2024 Republican presidential debate will be held on August 23, the Republican National Committee announced 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 demand could put some candidates off the stage, including Trump, who is not committed to supporting the nominee if he doesn’t make it out of the primary. Trump also questioned why he would join since he holds the lead in GOP primary polls.

The debate will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 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 is likely to be key to a presidential comeback in 2024.

Trump has said so far that he won’t pledge to support the nominee if someone else wins the nomination, telling radio host Hugh Hewitt, “It has to depend on who the nominee is.”

Christie, who plans to launch his campaign in New Hampshire next week, has said he will 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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