Who are the top republican presidential candidates for 2020?

[Maria D]

Looks like former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld (1991-1997) is throwing his hat into the ring.

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/15/politics/bill-weld-2020-exploratory-committee/index.html

 

[Dancing Fire]

Is this a trick Q?

 

[monarch64]

If I were a gambler I'd say Trump will pay off everyone NOT to run against him in 2020, and prime Nikki Haley for 2024 so the R's can say they elected the first female prez.

 

[Calliecake]

Now Bernie Sanders has decided to run. I so wished he had decided against this.

 

[whitewave]

I will be surprised if anyone actually puts together a campaign with Trump still president.

I still say he would win again.

 

[partgypsy]

Yes, considering the gerrymandering in some key states, along with disinformation from Russia, definitely possible. I'm from NC and essentially a huge number of people are disenfranchised from their vote from the way the election counties are drawn. And, we got people like Mark Harris, who will do "anything" to win. Funny how Trump has never brought up this case, since he is so so concerned with election tampering.

 

[Maria D]

Maryland governor Larry Hogan appears to be weighing his options.

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/21/larry-hogan-2020-trump-1179635

 

[Tekate]

Trump is so LARGE in the republican party and many of the current republican senators are reviled by republicans I think someone new, maybe a Congressman/woman?

 

[Maria D]

Trump is so LARGE in the republican party and many of the current republican senators are reviled by republicans I think someone new, maybe a Congressman/woman?

I think Ohio Gov. John Kasich may run again.

If there is a republican primary I'll be (temporarily) switching parties in order to vote in it.

 

[redwood66]

I think Ohio Gov. John Kasich may run again.

If there is a republican primary I'll be (temporarily) switching parties in order to vote in it.

Open primaries shouldn't be allowed and isn't in my state. Talk about intentionally messing with the voting process.

Maine doesn't have one either.

 

[Maria D]

Open primaries shouldn't be allowed and isn't in my state. Talk about intentionally messing with the voting process.

Maine doesn't have one either.

You are correct, Maine does not have open primaries. That's why I would have to register as a republican. I can't tell if you are saying that doing so would be intentionally messing with the voting process (as opposed to open primaries being "intentionally messing").

 

[redwood66]

You are correct, Maine does not have open primaries. That's why I would have to register as a republican. I can't tell if you are saying that doing so would be intentionally messing with the voting process (as opposed to open primaries being "intentionally messing").

I am telling you that what you said you are going to do is wrong and is intentionally messing with the voting process. You are not an R so you should not be able to have a say in that primary process. I would never do what you said you are going to do. Can you switch back after the primary so you can cast your presidential vote for the party you align with?

 

[Maria D]

Well of course you can cast your presidential vote for any one you want. I'm actually surprised you don't know this. I have always been a registered democrat yet I've voted for republican candidates for many offices.

Following the law when voting can not be considered "intentionally messing." Maine law allows voters to vote in a primary or participate in a caucus if they have been registered to that party for at least 15 days.

I find it odd that anyone would feel that wanting good candidates to choose from is a bad thing.

edited to add: Just in case I wasn't clear, there is no need to "switch back" to any party before voting in the actual election. Everyone is free to vote for whomever they want, regardless of party affiliation.

 

[redwood66]

Well of course you can cast your presidential vote for any one you want. I'm actually surprised you don't know this. I have always been a registered democrat yet I've voted for republican candidates for many offices.

Following the law when voting can not be considered "intentionally messing." Maine law allows voters to vote in a primary or participate in a caucus if they have been registered to that party for at least 15 days.

I find it odd that anyone would feel that wanting good candidates to choose from is a bad thing.

edited to add: Just in case I wasn't clear, there is no need to "switch back" to any party before voting in the actual election. Everyone is free to vote for whomever they want, regardless of party affiliation.

Doesn't change my opinion of what you said you wanted to do. You won't be voting for an R for president so why do you care who the nominee is? You made it plain why you would want to change your registration (temporarily for the R primary) so your attempt at pawning it off as to help have the best choices is disingenuous. Just own up to it.

 

[Calliecake]

Doesn't change my opinion of what you said you wanted to do. You won't be voting for an R for president so why do you care who the nominee is? You made it plain why you would want to change your registration (temporarily for the R primary) so your attempt at pawning it off as to help have the best choices is disingenuous. Just own up to it.

Why would she care? After what we have seen the past two years you ask why anyone would care? Wow!

 

[redwood66]

Why would she care? After what we have seen the past two years you ask why anyone would care? Wow!

You have to ask this question? So you want to have a say in both parties is what you are saying. Would you vote for any R that was nominated in a presidential election? I would not see any reason to have any say in who Dems nominate and especially not for nefarious reasons as was suggested. It's called Party Raiding.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Party_raiding



This didn't work out well did it?

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jesse-jackman/im-voting-for-donald-trump_b_8970174.html

 

[Calliecake]

At this point Red, I just want a sane decent person in the White House.

You may enjoy the discourse, division and drama that has ensued the past two years, many of us find it incredibly sad.

You know how I feel.

 

[redwood66]

At this point Red, I just want a sane decent person in the White House.

You may enjoy the discourse, division and drama that has ensued the past two years, many of us find it incredibly sad.

You know how I feel.

I don't enjoy any of it so I don't know where you got that idea. I think the partisan BS is ridiculous.

 

[Dancing Fire]

Why would she care? After what we have seen the past two years you ask why anyone would care? Wow!

So you don't wanna see more Americans working? FYI, most of us must work to put foods on the table.

 

[Dancing Fire]

At this point Red, I just want a sane decent person in the White House.

You may enjoy the discourse, division and drama that has ensued the past two years, many of us find it incredibly sad.

Agree, Think Jussie Smollett and Nick Sandmann...

 

[Dancing Fire]

Now Bernie Sanders has decided to run. I so wished he had decided against this.

Why not Bernie??. Everything will be FREE

if he becomes POTUS.

 

[House Cat]

I am definitely interested in who might run for The republican seat.

I’m an independent voter.

Maybe I won’t like any of the candidates running for the Democrat seat.

We are allowed to keep our options open.

 

[Maria D]

Doesn't change my opinion of what you said you wanted to do. You won't be voting for an R for president so why do you care who the nominee is? You made it plain why you would want to change your registration (temporarily for the R primary) so your attempt at pawning it off as to help have the best choices is disingenuous. Just own up to it.

I honestly don't know what you're trying to go on about. Either you don't understand how voting works or you're just cranky and argumentative. I will clarify (and repeat) here for the benefit of anyone seeking to understand.

1.) You cannot "have a say in both parties" in Maine. We have closed primaries. You have to be registered to a party to vote in its primary or participate in its caucus. Primary elections are held in Maine on the second Tuesday of June in even-numbered years. All of them on the same day means you can only vote in the ONE you are affiliated with.

2.) The only benefit to being registered to a party is to vote in its primary. If a person wishes to switch parties for the sole purpose of voting in a different primary than they have in the past, he forgoes the "say" he had with the prior party.

3.) Voters are free to vote for whomever they want in the general election. Voting is private and no one is bound to vote according to party affiliation. For example, in 2000 I voted for Olympia Snowe-R for U.S. Senate even though I was a registered democrat at the time. As a registered democrat, I did not vote in Republican primaries that year (wouldn't have mattered in Snowe's case as she ran unopposed in the primary).

4.) Many times the candidate a person favors in the primaries does not win the party's nomination. I believe this happened with you in 2016 in the case of Ted Cruz. Many voters will still go ahead and vote for a candidate in the general election even though their favored person isn't on the ballot. Many times voters will even choose a candidate from a party they are not affiliated with because they think that candidate is a better choice than the person who actually won the nomination of the party they are affiliated with. As an example, many republican registered voters voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016 because they thought she was a better choice than Trump. Not everyone does what I recall you saying you did - sit out the election because Cruz wasn't on the ballot.

5.) Some states do have open primaries. Massachusetts is one of them. I don't know how it works in all open primary states, but when I voted in Massachusetts it worked like this: even though you didn't have to be affiliated with a party to vote in a primary you still had to choose ONE primary ballot to vote on. You could not have both ballots.

I'm not trying to change your or anyone else's opinion of me and my voting strategies - just trying to clarify and hopefully educate. Finally - I don't know how you're so certain I'm not going to vote for the republican presidential candidate in 2020. I won't know until we see who is on the ballot.

 

[redwood66]

Thank you for all of that explanation, which was unnecessary in my case. So after all of that, your intent in your original comment was not party raiding. Is that what you are telling me? This answer would have been so much easier. Sorry if I was cranky at you but this kind of thing really chaps my hide that people do it intentionally. BTW my near certainty comes from reading your posts over the past few years.

I think Ohio Gov. John Kasich may run again.

If there is a republican primary I'll be (temporarily) switching parties in order to vote in it.

I didn't sit out but voted for someone else. I am all for people voting for who they wish in the election, just not party raiding.

 

[House Cat]

If a person wants to use their vote for the purpose of Party Raiding, that is their prerogative. This is a free country.

 

[Maria D]

If a person wants to use their vote for the purpose of Party Raiding, that is their priority. This is a free country.

Worrying about party raiding is similar to indulging in conspiracy theories. It doesn't happen much and when it has happened in an organized fashion it hasn't worked. http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2018/02/28/don’t-waste-your-vote-in-another-party’s-primary

I'm amazed at how often we have to remind conservatives that this is indeed still a free country.

 

[redwood66]

Worrying about party raiding is similar to indulging in conspiracy theories. It doesn't happen much and when it has happened in an organized fashion it hasn't worked. http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2018/02/28/don’t-waste-your-vote-in-another-party’s-primary
I'm amazed at how often we have to remind conservatives that this is indeed still a free country.

Of course it's a free country. I love it. And I am free to tell you what I think of people who do this. Party raiding doesn't work but it does show me who you are if you do it.

http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2018/02/28/don’t-waste-your-vote-in-another-party’s-primary

...For one thing, it’s undemocratic. You wouldn’t want voters from another party influencing the outcome of your party’s primary any more than you’d want agents from another country influencing the outcome of your country’s presidential election (perish the thought). Ideally, primary elections produce nominees that best represent their parties. That doesn’t always happen in reality, but trying to drown out honest voices in the opposing party with your own malicious noise just makes things worse — and it shows bad faith in the electoral process...

 

[Maria D]

Thank you for all of that explanation, which was unnecessary in my case. So after all of that, your intent in your original comment was not party raiding. Is that what you are telling me? This answer would have been so much easier. Sorry if I was cranky at you but this kind of thing really chaps my hide that people do it intentionally. BTW my near certainty comes from reading your posts over the past few years.




I didn't sit out but voted for someone else. I am all for people voting for who they wish in the election, just not party raiding.

Unnecessary? From this sentence "If there is a republican primary I'll be (temporarily) switching parties in order to vote in it," you came out with:

-You are not an R so you should not be able to have a say in that primary process. (Really now, ME Sec'y of State disagrees.)

-So you want to have a say in both parties is what you are saying. (Nope, not allowed.)

-I would not see any reason to have any say in who Dems nominate and especially not for nefarious reasons as was suggested. (No nefarious reasons were suggested, you imagine them.)

We've gone this route before. You get highly emotional online in political discourse. The last time I said I wouldn't engage with you politically for this reason and I should have stuck with that. My apologies; it won't happen again.

 

[redwood66]

Unnecessary? From this sentence "If there is a republican primary I'll be (temporarily) switching parties in order to vote in it," you came out with:

-You are not an R so you should not be able to have a say in that primary process. (Really now, ME Sec'y of State disagrees.)

-So you want to have a say in both parties is what you are saying. (Nope, not allowed.)

-I would not see any reason to have any say in who Dems nominate and especially not for nefarious reasons as was suggested. (No nefarious reasons were suggested, you imagine them.)

We've gone this route before. You get highly emotional online in political discourse. The last time I said I wouldn't engage with you politically for this reason and I should have stuck with that. My apologies; it won't happen again.

You don't like a differing opinion or being challenged. I have no emotion whatsoever in this. But we tried I guess.

 

[House Cat]

The primary motivation is to drown out the honest voices of your opposing party, surely representative of bad faith in the electoral process. Shame on you that you believe in such undemocratic malicious practice.

Shame on you!

We live in a free country, a democracy. People are allowed to spend their vote in any way they see fit. If you believe differently, contact your representative and ask that laws be passed to dictate how a person may vote!