Several Republicans have already announced their campaigns for president, including former President Donald Trump and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley. But the official 2024 launches from major candidates are coming early, here is how they compare to recent cycles:
In the 2016 contest, the last time the GOP had a wide open primary race, not one candidate had announced by this point in the cycle.
The first announcement came on March 5, when Mark Everson, a former IRS commissioner, launched his campaign. Almost three weeks later, Republican Sen. Ted Cruz launched his campaign, becoming the first elected official to do so.
Two additional candidates — GOP Sens. Rand Paul and Marco Rubio — announced their campaigns in April.
After that, five Republicans launched their campaigns in May, six more announced in June and three more in July.
Four years later, the timeline of Democratic primary campaign announcements went far more quickly.
The first two candidates to announce — former Rep. John Delaney and businessman Andrew Yang — announced in 2018, two years before the 2020 general election.
In 2019, four candidates — former Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, former San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, former Sen. Kamala Harris and author Marianne Williamson — announced their campaigns before the end of January.
After that, four candidates launched their campaigns in February, five announced their bids in March and six launched campaigns in April.
There's no way to know when other Republicans could announce their campaigns for president this year, but it's clear that the timing of those announcements doesn't necessarily determine how successful their campaigns will be.
In 2015, the eventual Republican nominee and eventual president, Donald Trump, didn't announce his campaign until mid-June, after 12 other candidates were already in the race.
In 2019, the eventual Democratic nominee and eventual president, Joe Biden, didn't announce his campaign until late April, after 20 others had already announced.
