DES MOINES, Iowa — Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson says he has no plans to drop out of the 2024 presidential race, even though he said in September he should re-evaluate his campaign if he was not polling at 4% by Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving is next week. Hutchinson is still scraping around 1% in GOP primary polls like the October NBC News/Des Moines Register/Mediacom poll of Iowa.
But in an interview with NBC News, the Republican pointed to the Israel-Hamas war as enough reason to continue his campaign. And he called for the GOP to adopt more “compassionate” messaging on abortion in the face of a revolt by voters against their brand on the issue.
“In the last month, just think about how the world has changed, with Hamas killing so many Israelis and invading, in an atrocious way, that country,” Hutchinson said. “And now we’re at war in the Middle East, there’s more regional conflict. There’s a greater need for me to be in this race for president now than even 30 days ago.”
Hutchinson blamed his low poll numbers on being outspent on TV advertising. He added that he thinks voters in Iowa and New Hampshire won’t decide who to vote for in their January contests until after Thanksgiving, if then.
“We’re planning the campaign for Jan. 15 and leading up to that,” Hutchinson said, adding that he thought he could distinguish himself “because everybody else is just slinging mud at each other right now.”
When asked about pressure to drop out, following former Vice President Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott’s decisions to end their campaigns, Hutchinson sidestepped.
Despite his strong criticism of former President Donald Trump throughout the campaign, he said that there’s no rush to consolidate support behind an anti-Trump candidate and that Iowa, the first-in-the-nation caucus state, should have a choice of candidates with a breadth of experience.
“The argument is that somehow, if we consolidate, that’s going to make it tougher on Trump. In Iowa, Trump is down to 43% of the vote — that means 57% is looking for alternatives. They’re going to have the opportunity to choose. No one thinks that this field should be consolidated before Super Tuesday,” Hutchinson said. “They ought to let the first four states vote and let’s see, you know, where the strength is then. And there’s certainly adequate time to make sure that we have the organized opposition to a Donald Trump presidency.”
In order to avoid more losses in 2024, Hutchinson said Republicans need to focus more resources on maternal health care and adoption services as well as abortion — and they need to adopt different language and policies to highlight.
“Republicans need to express this in more compassionate terms, because these are problem pregnancies and that’s why the woman is considering different options,” Hutchinson said. “And so what are we putting into maternal health care? What resources are we putting into making sure that there’s adequate adoption services that are available in support for these challenges that women face?”
“We’ve got to talk about this,” he continued. “And not just in terms of, you know, what your view is, but also in terms of compassion for these difficult circumstances that women find themselves in.”
Hutchinson also said Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders called him to explain her endorsement of Trump, her former boss, before announcing it publicly. He said he wasn’t surprised by her choice, but he also suggested there’s pressure on politicians to endorse the former president — at least partially motivated by the backlash awaiting those who don’t.
“There’s a lot of congressional support and part of it is they worry about the consequences and retribution if they don’t do that,” Hutchinson said.
