After former UN ambassador Nikki Haley declared her candidacy last week, and author-entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy announced this week, Timothy Head of the Faith and Freedom Coalition predicts as many as 15 candidates by the summer.
"We'll probably have a couple people a month,” he tells AFN, “for the next probably three to four months.”
Donald Trump famously jumped into the 2024 race first, back in November, and polls show him leading other GOP candidates by double digits including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Among people he is watching, Head says former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson is expected to jump in as well as Mike Pence and Sen. Tim Scott.
“Governor DeSantis is still studying this process,” Head observes, “but it seems like the external indicators would suggest he's moving closer and closer in that direction.”
On her AFR radio show, Jenna Ellis praised Ramaswamy as a serious contender who is the first Millennial to jump in. Although Ellis is close to Trump, since she served as his attorney, she also said the GOP is getting ready for a “great campaign” for president due to a deep “bench” of candidates.
But Jameson Taylor, director of policy and legislative affairs at AFA Action, offers a somewhat different take on Ramaswamy's candidacy.
"No one actually believes Vivek Ramaswamy will be elected president," says Taylor. "He's running to boost his own name ID and to boost his message."
And while Taylor acknowledges that Ramaswamy has "done the country a service" in alerting ordinary people to the problems of "activist woke investing," he also argues the entrepreneur's vision of a new American dream is based on values that are "very self-serving and secular."
"I'd say that the real new American dream should be about working hard and praying hard, all to the glory of God," he explains. "So, Vivek Ramaswamy is going to have some interesting things to say during the campaign – but ultimately this is about boosting his own brand, boosting his own message, which in some ways is good. But it's not enough to really turn America around."
Editor's Note: AFA Action is an affiliate of the American Family Association, the parent organization of the American Family News Network, which operates AFN.net.
Comments from Jameson Tayler added after story was originally posted.
