Former President Trump unveiled new details about his “special announcement” at Mar-a-Lago next week, which is widely expected to launch his 2024 presidential campaign, even as the former president faces pushback from within the Republican Party.
Trump confirmed that he will be holding a “special announcement” at Mar-a-Lago on Nov. 15 in a press release on Thursday night.
The former president teased a potential campaign announcement at several rallies in the final weeks of the midterm elections. However, he homed in on the Nov. 15 date on Monday, telling a cheering crowd at an Ohio rally that he was “going to be making a very big announcement.”
Despite the GOP’s lackluster performance in Tuesday’s midterm elections, Trump appears largely unfazed. The former president told Fox News on Wednesday that Republicans had “tremendous success” in the midterms and suggested he did not plan to move his announcement.
However, Trump has faced pushback from his own party over the expected campaign announcement. Several members of the GOP have suggested that it would be unwise to announce next week and take attention away from the Georgia runoff race.
Neither Sen. Raphael Warnock (D) nor Republican Herschel Walker managed to secure 50 percent of the vote in the tight Georgia Senate race, sending both to a Dec. 6 runoff election. The race will likely be key to determining control of the Senate.
Trump adviser Jason Miller told Newsmax on Wednesday that he was encouraging the former president to hold off on his announcement until after the runoff to keep the focus on Georgia. Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany also urged the president to wait until after the runoff.
“2022 is not over,” McEnany said on Fox News on Wednesday. “Every Republican energy needs to go to grinding the Biden agenda to a halt, and that could go straight through the state of Georgia.”
However, the former president already appears focused on 2024 and his potential competitor for the Republican nomination — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump has frequently taken jabs at the Florida governor in recent days.
After DeSantis received a slew of positive press following the midterms, Trump criticized him on Thursday for being an “average” governor. The former president also accused the Florida governor on Tuesday of not being gracious enough for Trump’s support in his 2018 gubernatorial run.
Trump even explicitly warned DeSantis to stay out of the 2024 race, saying it wouldn’t be “good for the party.”