Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson has made it his mission to wrestle the Republican Party away from Donald Trump but can’t escape the former president’s shadow.
Three months into his bid, the proud Reagan conservative has come face to face with the harsh reality that primary voters are so enamored with Trump that won’t even listen to the message Mr. Hutchinson has honed over four decades of fighting for his Republican Party.
“That is the big surprise,” Mr. Hutchinson told The Washington Times. “It is one thing to have Donald Trump high in the polls. It is another thing for his every word to influence the voters and how they think, and when there has been misinformation in the past there have been other leaders that would counter that message.”
“But now you have many leaders who are just continuing down that path and backing up Donald Trump whatever he says. So that is a surprise as to the depth of the influence over the Republican base and it’s going to take time to change that.”
That was a rude awakening for Mr. Hutchinson, 72, who has been living in the trenches of GOP politics since 1982 when President Reagan made a 31-year-old Mr. Hutchinson the youngest U.S. attorney.
He went on to serve as the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, a member of Congress representing Arkansas, and undersecretary of border and transportation before serving as the 46th governor of Arkansas from 2015 to 2023.
“He is absolutely the most experienced candidate in this race,” said Austin Barbour, head of the pro-Hutchinson political action committee American Free and Strong.
Mr. Barbour said Mr. Hutchinson has been a tried-and-true conservative throughout his time in the political arena, and he would put his record up against anyone in the race.
“Asa Hutchinson is as pro-life as probably anybody in this race. Asa Hutchinson is as tough on social issues as anybody running for president,” he said. “He is a social conservative, a commonsense conservative and a fiscal conservative and he has a damn good record of being governor for 8 years.”
It is the sort of resume that would likely get more of an early look from primary voters in years past.
That has not been the case since Mr. Hutchinson left the governor’s mansion because of term limits and passed the keys, notably, to a Trump acolyte: Sara Huckabee Sanders, an advocate for the American First agenda that has energized the GOP base.
Mr. Hutchinson now is struggling to qualify for the first GOP debate that will be held on Aug. 23 in Milwaukee.
“I think the time for the self-loathing lovable loser Republican is over,” said Hogan Gidley, who served as a deputy press secretary in the Trump White House and cut his political teeth in Arkansas politics. “I think Asa oftentimes is fine playing the court jester in the kingdom of liberalism, and when you are trying to run a national race for president you have to have at the very least a hook, politically.”
“Forget charisma, or relatability, or strength, there is no real big agenda he can point to that resonates with the conservative base,” Mr. Gidley said. “Asa, it seems, is trying to carve out an entirely separate lane of ‘I don’t like the former president, I don’t like many of his policies, so I am just going to kind of drive this busted up beaten hooptie down the road and hope voters come along and pimp my ride.’”
Mr. Hutchinson’s inability to connect with the core of the GOP came into focus last month in Iowa after former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson pressed him on his decision to veto legislation that would have made Arkansas the first state to ban gender-confirming treatments or surgery for transgender youth.
Mr. Hutchinson, in response, said he hoped the conversation would get into “some issues.” Mr. Carlson countered it was “one of the biggest issues in this country and every person in this room would agree.” That comment from Mr. Carlson drew applause from the Christian conservative activist in attendance.
Mr. Gidley called the level of disconnect Hutchinson has with Republican voters “staggering.”
“He seems like a candidate straight out the late 90s and early 2000s of ‘Let’s forget the social issues, and let’s focus on tax cuts,’” Mr. Gidley said.
Mr. Trump’s grip on the GOP wasn’t weakened — it was probably strengthened — when the ex-president was hit with criminal charges for the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
Campaigning in New Hampshire when the news broke, Mr. Hutchinson doubled down on his call for Mr. Trump to pull the rip chord on his presidential campaign.
“In my view, every GOP candidate must state a clear position on this, and in my judgment, they should disavow the conduct of Donald Trump on Jan. 6, and hold him accountable,” Mr. Hutchinson told The Times. “You’re either on the side of the rule of law and Democracy or you’re on the side of Trump and anarchy.”
“I think that’s the defining issue, one of the defining issues, for 2024,” he said.
There has been a bit of movement in that direction from Mr. Trump’s other rivals for the Republican nomination.
Former Vice President Mike Pence has said Mr. Trump’s willingness on Jan. 6 to run roughshod over the Constitution in an attempt to retain power shows he is unfit to be the nation’s commander in chief.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who also has been trying to convince the party to turn the page, warned Mr. Trump only cares about himself and is a proven loser.
Former Rep. Will Hurd of Texas said Mr. Trump’s time has come and gone.
Voters, though, are still on Team Trump.
That helps explain why most of the Republican White House hopefuls have stopped short of demanding Mr. Trump’s exit.
Seeking a middle ground, they are raising concerns about the weaponization of the DOJ. They also warn that Mr. Trump’s nonstop relitigating of the 2020 election and mounting legal baggage are sucking all the oxygen out of the room, and pulling the spotlight away from the bungling Biden administration.
But back on Capitol Hill, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and most of the rank-and-file Republicans are sticking with Mr. Trump.
So are a large portion of the Republican voters.
The Real Clear Politics average of recent polls shows Mr. Trump capturing 44% of the vote in Iowa and nearly 42% of the vote in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire, giving him massive leads in the states that kick off the nomination race.
Mr. Hutchinson is hovering around 1% in those state polls, and struggling to secure the number of donations that the Republican National Committee has established as a requirement to qualify for the first debate.
Mr. Hutchinson’s allies are trying to gin up support for his bid and don’t want to talk about what it would mean if he misses out.
The Barbour-led super PAC recently released an ad highlighting the praise President Reagan heaped on Mr. Hutchinson back in 1982. There is no indication the ad moved the needle.
Still, Mr. Hutchinson plans to keep fighting, saying the stakes for the GOP in the 2024 election could not be higher.
“I believe in the Republican Party that supports the rule of law, that supports the justice system. that supports our federal law enforcement and that stands strong and tall for our freedoms and our Democracy,” he said. “I want to get back to that message.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.