WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — Former President Donald Trump continues to pick up key GOP endorsements for his 2024 White House run.
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer became the latest Republican heavy hitter to endorse the former president. Emmer’s backing follows House Speaker Mike Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise and conference chair Elise Stefanik.
The Trump campaign hopes the endorsement will show the narrowing GOP presidential primary field that the race is settled before the Iowa caucuses in less than two weeks.
In his endorsement, Emmer said, “It’s time for Republicans to unite behind our party’s clear front runner.” His backing means that all of the top five members of the House GOP leadership have thrown their support behind Trump.
“This is all about trying to unify the party in a primary. You have many divisions in the party as different factions of the Republican Party tried to coalesce behind various different candidates for Trump. He’s been the dominant front-runner,” said political reporter Kevin Cirilli. “By being able to secure endorsements, not just from conservatives, but for more middle-of-the-road Republicans, what Trump was able to do is to flex his political muscle and to suggest that this race is settled before really even Super Tuesday.”
Trump, however, is not the only candidate picking up endorsements on the campaign trail right now.
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy was endorsed this week by Steve King, a former Republican representative from Iowa. Influential Iowa evangelical Bob Vander Plaats and Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds have backed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley scored an endorsement from New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu.
Even with these big endorsements, it hasn’t been able to push any candidates ahead of Trump.
The latest Decision Desk HQ data shows Trump with over 50% of the vote in Iowa polls, with DeSantis and Haley neck and neck for second place.
