Trump's position among Republicans weakens ahead of likely 2024 announcement Tuesday

Even as Republicans slowly head for the control of House of Representatives, there is no denying the fact that the GOP hasn't performed as was expected of it in the midterms. Several candidates backed by Donald Trump have failed to register wins, raising the question if Trump's leadership skills can be relied upon to lead the party to victory in 2024.

He is expected to announce a 2024 presidential bid at his Mar-a-Lago retreat in Florida on November 15. But people within the party are now not sure if Trump is the leader they need. Polling still indicates that Trump is the preferred candidate among the Republican base. But ever since the candidates he endorsed performed poorly in the midterms, support for him has declined. A poll released on Saturday showed Trump’s support declining by six points to 50 per cent. Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who won a re-election, saw an increase in support.

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In a sign that Republican supporters want DeSantis and not Trump to run for president, analysts say that the power shift is visible and it clearly lies in Florida, but not Mar-a-Lago. After DeSantis won, the crowd chanted “two more years!”, sending clear signs that he should run for president.

On Sunday, Maryland’s outgoing Republican governor, Larry Hogan, who is also reportedly considering fighting for a Republican nomination, urged the party to step away from Trump if it hopes to win in 2024.

“You know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result,” Hogan told CNN. “And Donald Trump kept saying: ‘We’re going to be winning so much, we’ll get tired of winning’. I’m tired of losing. That’s all he’s done.”

However, he knows that it won't be easy to sideline Trump, saying, “He’s still the 800-lb gorilla".

“It’s still a battle and it’s going to continue for the next few years. We’re still two years out from the next election. I think it would be a mistake, as I mentioned Trump has cost us the last three elections and I don’t want to see it happen a fourth time," Hogan said.

Trump's never-ending tirade about election fraud in 2020 also seemed to have had an effect on the midterm results. At almost every campaignrally leading up to the midterms, Trump talked about how the election was stolen from him. Several of his candidates also echoed his views and denied the 2020 elections results, including the Senate races in Arizona and Doug Mastriano, who lost the governor’s election in Pennsylvania. Both these contests saw the defeat of the Republican candidates, among several other races where the candidates turned election deniers.

Several Democratic candidates see their wins as a rejection of election conspiracy theories and rightwing extremism.

Michigan’s governor Gretchen Whitmer registered a thumping win against a Trump-endorsed election denier Tudor Nixion, and said she believed her victory marked a rejection of political violence in the state.

“Good people need to call this out and say we will not tolerate this in this country,” Whitmer, who was targeted by a failed kidnapping plot in 2020, told CNN. “And perhaps part of that message was sent this election.”

(With inputs from agencies)