Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is seeking the Republican nomination for president. Last week in Bentonville, Hutchinson officially announced his campaign for president. Chuck Todd, host of NBC’s Meet the Press, appeared on KARK Channel 4’s Capitol View to talk about Hutchinson's chances in the presidential race.
In his announcement, Hutchinson said he wants to change the direction of the party. Todd said that could present challenges for Hutchinson, because the Republican party isn’t seeking to change.
“I don’t know if a large enough swath of Republicans believe they’ve lost and that the party has to change what it is because of its previous losses,” Todd said.
He added the lack of desire to change is also present in the Democratic party.
“I mean here’s the larger issue right, and what’s wrong with polarization, neither party loses enough to believe they have to change and I think that’s the position we are in right now,” Todd said.
Hutchinson has said the change he wants to see with his party is with leadership. He has said multiple times that Republicans need to move on from former President Donald Trump. He became a vocal critic of Trump in the aftermath of the January 6 riots at the U.S Capitol. Earlier this year, he said the former president’s role in January 6 disqualified him from being president.
Todd said Hutchinson will have limited success with this strategy because Republican voters still support the former president.
“He’ll probably end up doing better than some of these better known candidates who are trying to swim in the same lane as Donald Trump and [Florida Governor] Ron DeSantis. On the one hand, I think he has a wide-open field to that constituency on its own, unless the New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu gets in,” he said.
Todd compared Hutchinson’s campaign to former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who unsuccessfully ran for the Republican nomination for president in 2016.
“As we learned with John Kasich, he was sort of the last man standing, but there wasn’t a majority inside the party that bought into his [Kasich’s] vision of the party,” he said.
Todd also compared Hutchinson’s campaign to former Arkansas Gov. and President Bill Clinton’s campaign when he clinched the Democratic nomination for president in 1992. Despite being in two different parties, Todd said both of their campaigns focused on moving their parties back to the center. But Todd said he doesn’t see Hutchinson having the same level of success as Clinton using that strategy.
“I just don’t know if the Republican party is ready to move the way the Democratic Party was,” he said. “When Bill Clinton ran in 1991, the Democrats hadn’t won the White House since 1976. They lost three straight presidential elections, the Republicans haven’t lost three straight.”
Todd noted in the recent presidential elections the Republicans have won, the party didn't win the popular vote. The last Republican to win the popular vote was former President George W. Bush in 2004. Todd said this could be an issue for Republicans moving forward.
In the latest presidential poll by Morning Consult, Hutchinson is polling at 1% with Republican voters, while Trump is leading at 58%.
In addition to Hutchinson and Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy and radio host Larry Elder are seeking the Republican nomination.
