(VitalNews.org) – Many Republican governors are hesitant to throw in their two cents about who they prefer for the GOP nomination, let alone openly endorsing a candidate, but the Governor of Alaska is not one of them.
Republican Gov. Mike Dunleavy stepped forward on Tuesday to endorse former President Donald Trump for the 2024 nomination, believing he is the best candidate to lead the party to victory. His endorsement came on the eve of the first Republican primary debates on Wednesday hosted by Fox News in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Dunleavy is one of only five out of 26 GOP governors to endorse a candidate, and two of them are running the race: North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is in second place behind Trump for the Republican nomination. And three out of that five have endorsed Trump: West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, and now Dunleavy.
The other two endorsements came from Oklahoma Gov; Kevin Sitt, who is backing DeSantis, and Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, who threw his lot in with former Vice President Mike Pence.
Dunleavy is returning the favor to Trump, who has endorsed him for governor of Alaska three times: in 2018, again in 2019 during a possible recall election, and then in 2022 during the midterms. That year, Dunleavy became the first governor of Alaska to win back-to-back since 1998.
Trump isn’t just leading ahead of DeSantis and other candidates among governors, but also among Congress members, 80 of whom have endorsed the former president. Despite facing four separate indictments, Trump seems to be holding his immense lead over every other GOP candidate.
In fact, his poll numbers have actually gone up since the indictments, indicating these actions by Democrats have only restored some of the support for Trump that was lost after the January 6, 2021, riots in Washington, D.C. Many feel the president is being unfairly targeted and that the indictments are politically motivated to interrupt his campaign.
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