DENVER — The day after Republican U.S. Senate nominee Joe O’Dea said he’d “actively campaign against” Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential race, the former president lashed out at the candidate as a “RINO,” or Republican in name only.
O’Dea has frequently said he hopes Trump doesn’t seek the Republican nomination again, usually arguing that another Trump candidacy would be too divisive. But he doesn’t usually say he’d actively fight a Trump 2024 campaign. O’Dea named Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina as Republicans he’d like to see run for president.
“I’m going to do my job as a U.S. senator to make sure that they have good campaigns in the primary here to make sure that we have a good selection of candidates here in 2024,” O’Dea told CNN’s Dana Bash. None of the politicians O’Dea named have officially declared their candidacy for the White House, though they are widely rumored to be eyeing a run. Haley has endorsed O’Dea and Scott recently campaigned for him here.
