Trump signals 2024 announcement could be imminent

Former President Trump is signaling he could declare a 2024 White House bid soon after the midterm elections.

Trump sent his clearest signal yet that he intends to announce a reelection campaign during a rally Thursday night in Iowa, the first caucus state in the GOP primary.

“I will very, very, very probably do it again, OK? Very, very, very probably,” Trump said as a crowd of supporters cheered. “Get ready. That’s all I’m telling you. Very soon. Get ready. Get ready.”

Axios reported on Friday morning that Trump and his team are eyeing Nov. 14 as a possible launch day for his 2024 campaign, which would be followed by a string of political events.

Kellyanne Conway, who previously served as Trump’s 2016 campaign manager and a top adviser in the Trump White House, told reporters at a roundtable on Thursday that she expects the former president to announce “soon.”

“I give him a ton of credit for not announcing this year, for not stepping in the way of midterm candidates. … I think you can expect him to announce soon,” Conway said at a Christian Science Monitor event.

“Obviously there’s a family wedding coming up on his property, and Election Day is late this year. But as he would say, wait and see,” Conway added.

Trump’s daughter, Tiffany Trump, is scheduled to get married at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Nov. 12. An announcement could come shortly after that event. Trump is likely to seize on momentum from Republicans winning the House and possibly Senate and take credit for the feat, as the vast majority of candidates have embraced his administration’s accomplishments and some are his hand-picked candidates.

Conway noted that some in Trump’s circle had urged him to announce before the midterms, but she and others advised him against doing so and potentially stepping on Republicans’ chances of taking back both chambers of Congress. Sources previously told The Hill that Trump had mulled an announcement as early as July of this year.

The former president has teased a possible 2024 campaign for much of the time since he left office in January 2021. Trump still maintains a strong hold on the GOP electorate, making him a formidable candidate who would enter any primary as the favorite.

Still, a number of polls in recent months have shown an increasing number of Republicans are ready to move on from Trump in favor of another candidate who would carry on his legacy. 

A July New York Times-Siena College poll found 49 percent of GOP primary voters said they would back Trump for a third nomination.

A September NBC News poll found 33 percent of registered Republicans view themselves as a “supporter of Donald Trump” over a supporter of the Republican Party, down 10 percentage points from a year earlier.

Other Republicans — including former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) — have signaled they will consider a 2024 presidential campaign regardless of whether Trump is running. Others, like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), have not said whether they plan to run.