'DeSantis has built a big lead with Trump Republicans': Nebraska event offers preview of 2024 GOP primary

Republican presidential hopefuls are dipping their toes into the 2024 campaign but steering clear of the former president.

Donald Trump seems increasingly likely to announce he'll seek a rematch against President Joe Biden, but several would-be challengers -- Ted Cruz, Ron DeSantis and Mike Pence -- tiptoed around the twice-impeached one-term president Sunday at a Nebraska steak fry just across the Missouri River from Iowa, where the first presidential primary will be held in less than three years, reported Politico.

"The Trump overhang on the race isn't going to affect what these potential candidates are going to do at this point," said Iowa-based GOP presidential campaign strategist David Kochel. "Now at some point it will. All the things you need to do right now — road-test a message, raise money, if you have an early state strategy, get out to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina — these candidates can do because we have a big midterm election coming up with a lot at stake. All of that can go on without Trump."

Nearly all the top Republican aspirants have said they won't challenge Trump, who retains a stranglehold on the party, and polls show the vast majority of GOP voters prefer the former president over another candidate, and more respondents described themselves as Trump-first voters than party-first voters.

"DeSantis has built a big lead with Trump Republicans," said pollster Patrick Ruffini. "What you see is DeSantis is dominant in the Trump-first lane, and he's been making inroads into the party-first lane. He's a Trump-flavored candidate, but he's not limited to that lane."

The GOP hopefuls spent most their time at the 5th Annual Nebraska Steak Fry bashing Biden, especially on the Afghanistan troop withdrawal, but DeSantis has staked out the best non-Trump position with GOP voters by contrasting his refusal to mandate coronavirus restrictions with the president's focus on masking and mandatory vaccinations.

"When Biden is violating the Constitution, we are going to be on the front lines with a full-spectrum response," DeSantis told the gathering. "That is the least that we can be doing."