February 2021 Republican Presidential Power Rankings

Away we go with the 2024 Presidential Election

Welcome to the first installment of The Duckpin Republican Presidential Power Rankings. These rankings will list, in my estimation, the contenders for the Republican nomination for President on a 1-10 scale. This list will be updated every month; maybe more once we get to late 2023.

The rankings are a combination of polls, data, political environment, and gut feelings. It is not necessarily a ranking in order of who I think should be the Republican, but who is best positioned to win the nomination at that time. Think of it as a snapshot in time.

#10: Ex-President Donald Trump (FL)
Had the events of January 6th not happened, the former President would be ranked much higher than this. Had he not been banned from every conceivable social media known to man, the former President would be ranked much higher than this. In a logical world, Donald Trump wouldn’t be on this list at all as a disgraced former President who led his party to ruin. Except the world is not logical and the Republican party is overrun with conspiracy theorists who still believe that Trump is the second coming. I ultimately think that Trump will not run. But there is an outside chance that Trump runs and wins the nomination.

#9: Gov. Greg Abbott (TX)
Abbott is in a strange position if he decides to run for President. He is the Governor of a large Republican state. But the office of Governor of Texas is relatively weak and he won’t be the only Texan seeking the nomination. Abbott, however, is widely popular in Texas and has a unique backstory. He might not run, but if he does he is a very credible candidate.

#8: Sen. Tom Cotton (AR)
Cotton is one of the few people who helped themselves in the wake of the January 6th attempted coup. He retreated from his position on supporting the silly claims of election fraud, and has tried to turn the corner on his obsequious Trumpism. However, he remains enough of a Trump supporter that he hasn’t completely alienated Trump’s base. His legislative record and his military service will go far if he decides to run, though his small voting base in Arkansas could hurt him.

#7: Sen. Ted Cruz (TX)
Had these rankings come out a month ago, Ted Cruz would be much higher on the list. Cruz’s problem is that he continued the charade of alleged election fraud and attempted decertification of election results long past its expiration date. Cruz’s bigger problem is the fact that he is a political chameleon who cares only about politics and not policy or principles. Nothing better shows that flexibility of character when it comes to Cruz than his nearly overnight transformation from a #NeverTrump critic into being one of the leading gophers of Trump, a guy who repeatedly insulted his father and his wife. Cruz’s chance to be elected President was 2016; and he missed it.

#6: Gov. Larry Hogan (MD)
No potential candidate was hurt more by the fall of Donald Trump than Hogan. If Trump remained a viable 2024 contender, this race may very well have down to a mano-a-mano showdown between Trump and Hogan, one of the loudest Trump critics in the Republican Party. Hogan has shown great political instincts in being elected Governor of Maryland. His challenge is going to be to convince Republican primary voters that he is conservative enough; he’s more conservative than most (even many Maryland Republicans) give him credit for, but when the primary voters make the (laughable) decision that conservatism means fealty to Trump, that creates complications for a run.

#5: Sen. Ben Sasse (NE)
Sasse was the original #NeverTrump Senator back in 2016. His record since then has been interesting insofar as he has been extremely critical of Trump and his character but not necessarily his policies; he has supported Trump’s policies when they’ve been worth supporting and opposed them when they weren’t. Sasse has been extremely critical of Trump’s post-election antics and the QAnon-ification of the GOP. Like Hogan, Sasse has the challenge of not bending the knee enough for Trump. But Sasse, arguably, is one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate and one of the most conservative in the field. He has a lane.

#4: Ex-Vice President Mike Pence (IN)
Pence’s profile in this race is similar to that of Joe Biden when he ran in 2016. Arguable, Pence is the most qualified candidate in the field: he’s been a small business owner, a Congressman, a Governor, and of course Vice-President. That last part of course is what will trip him up. In a primary election, Pence will be hampered by the Trumpiest part of the Republican base that is mad because Pence didn’t violate the law, the Constitution, and common sense and unilaterally throw out the results of the 2020 Presidential Election. Again, in a sane world Pence would be higher on this list, perhaps #1. But not in this world.

#3: Sen. Rick Scott (FL)
Scott has the gift of time in a few ways. One, he doesn’t have to make a decision to run nearly as early as others on this list because he’s from a big state and has deep pockets. On the other end of the spectrum, he was running ads in Iowa a year ago ostensibly to attack Joe Biden. A businessman and a former Governor, Scott is well-positioned to make a competitive run for President. His problem is the fact he is not the only Floridian in the field (perhaps not even the only Senator from Florida if Marco Rubio runs again) and he is not the most likeable guy in the world.

#2: Former Ambassador Nikki Haley (SC)
The only woman to crack this list, Haley remains extremely popular with Trump’s base. Her service as Ambassador to the U.N. gave Haley the foreign policy chops that she lacked from her time as Governor of South Carolina. Haley is in a great spot; she remains popular with the Trump wing of the party while still retaining ties to the rest of the party, she lives in a key early primary state, and she’s the only woman seriously considering a run. It would be surprising if Haley weren’t leading polls early.

#1: Gov. Ron DeSantis (FL)
Yes, I know that DeSantis has publicly said he won’t run for President. I don’t buy that for a second. DeSantis is a very shrewd politician. Just look at how he leaned into Trump to get elected Governor in 2018 and then started deviating from Trump as soon as he could. As a former Congressman, he has Washington experience; as a Governor of a swing-state, he has executive experience. DeSantis’s response to COVID has been much better than the media wants to tell you; it’s arguably been better than the response of Democratic media darling Andrew Cuomo in New York. And this exchange where DeSantis held his own with a CNN reporter is going to win him a lot of plaudits from Republican voters. He may say that he isn’t running now (perhaps as he prepares to run for re-election next year), but I won’t believe he isn’t in until we get past mid-2023 without an announcement.