Tom Cotton tells big donors Donald Trump candidacy won't keep him from running for president 

Senator Tom Cotton is preparing for a possible presidential bid in 2024 and is not afraid to face former President Trump, the Arkansas Republican reportedly told a donor gathering Tuesday.

During a meeting with two dozen of his key donors at the Hay-Adams Hotel in Washington, DC, Cotton detailed the groundwork he has laid for a national campaign, two attendees said Politically.

Unwilling to commit to challenging a former president, most potential 2024 candidates have so far been stuck in limbo, waiting for Trump to say one way or another whether he will run, but not Cotton, he told the group , that he would not put off any other potential candidates, even Trump. Cotton said he plans to make a final decision on whether to run after the midterm elections.

Cotton’s name hasn’t been tossed around as a potential contender nearly as often as candidates with statewide recognition, notably Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

But Brian Colas, in a 15-slide powerpoint presentation, reportedly argued why Cotton might have a shot at winning.

Colas said that he, Cotton and other advisers studied previous Republican presidential campaigns and found that early national recognition had little impact on candidates’ success. According to Colas, performance was far more important in Iowa and New Hampshire, the states with the first two nominating contests.

He said that because Cotton ran unopposed in 2020, he was able to begin developing donors and reaching out to activists in the first two states of the caucus, having traveled to Iowa six times and New Hampshire four times since 2020 .

Cotton, meanwhile, argued that he had won the favor of both the populists and the mainstream wing of the party. He noted that he had $8 million in his Senate campaign war chest that could be carried over to a presidential bid, enough to get him through the early stages.

Cotton has managed to remain in Trump’s good graces despite breaking with the president on a number of occasions — voting to confirm the 2020 election and calling Trump’s criminal justice reform bill, the First Step Act, his administration’s “worst mistake.” .

As the months before November dwindle, potential contenders for 2024 have teamed up with wealthy donors to jump straight into the following race once the midterms are set.

DeSantis has traveled across the nation to secure funds for his 2022 reelection bid and raised an additional $10.2 million in May, bringing the total raised for his reelection bid to $124 million.

DeSantis recently beat Trump in a straw poll in which he asked conservatives who they want to see at the top of the ticket in 2024.

The poll was conducted at the Western Conservative Summit earlier this month, asking 1,114 participants to tick off as many candidates from a list of top candidates as they would like to see in 2024.

DeSantis, 43, was ticked off by 71.0 percent of respondents, Trump by 67.8, and Senator Ted Cruz in third place by 28.7 percent. DeSantis also won the straw poll last year.

dr Ben Carson, Trump’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, was fourth with 24.1 percent, leading ahead of Sarah Huckabee Sanders with 18.4 percent, Senator Tim Scott with 17.4 percent, Mike Pompeo with 16.7 and Donald Trump Jr .with 16.2. Behind Trump Jr. were Nikki Haley at 15.5 and Mike Pence at 14.3. Cotton was not included in the survey.

DeSantis’ rising star in the ranks of the GOP is said to have shaken the former president so much that he’s now looking at various ways to thwart the Florida governor’s plans for his own presidential bid. According to Rolling Stone, plans could include Trump starting his 2024 from the Sunshine State and throwing a huge party near the governor’s mansion.