While GOP incumbent president Donald Trump is the presumptive nominee, two candidates are hoping the party will open up a primary process — despite reports that the Republican party in a handful of states will not hold primary elections as a show of support for Trump. (The party also eliminated its debate committee in May.)
More than 100 people who have officially declared Republican candidates with the Federal Elections Commission, these two are running the most high-profile campaigns to try and take the Republican nomination away from Trump. This makes the race to the White House very interesting.
Bill Weld, former Massachusetts governor (1991-1997)
Joe Walsh, talk show host
What are the odds?
Weld and Walsh all have a long road ahead of them. As Business Insider explained in March, incumbent presidents are very rarely seriously challenged in their party’s primaries, but when they are, the results can divide the party vote.
One notable example is Pat Buchanan’s 1992 candidacy that fractured the Republican Party and included far-right rhetoric echoed by more recent candidates. Supporters of incumbent Republican president George H.W. Bush said in retrospect that the divisiveness of the primary challenge might have cost Bush reelection. After failing to get his party’s nomination, Buchanan got to watch Bush go on to be defeated by Bill Clinton.
On November 13th, Mark Sanford announced that he was suspending his campaign.
