Former Arkansas GOP Gov. Asa Hutchinson is running for president

Welcome back to 40 20 nineties on the record Governor, Asa Hutchinson is joining us now with some reaction from election results. And Governor, the one question that I did want to ask you about is what is your reaction to all the Arkansas ballot issues not passing? I think the public just made it in mind that they were probably against *** couple of them and they said, let's don't get confused, let's just vote against all of them. And so there were four ballot initiatives on the election this year. And of course, the one I was very concerned about was issue for which was the legalization of recreational marijuana. And if that would have passed, we would have been the only southern state to adopt recreational use of marijuana. I thought it was the wrong direction for our country, for our country and for our state. And I was very pleased that the voters looked at that very carefully and they defeated that. And it's interesting that Missouri, of course now will have it across the board will have to watch how that develops. But I think the voters applaud them for really looking at those issues carefully. Uh you know, the first issue was the legislature calling themselves into session. I thought that was *** bad idea, It sort of uh subverts the balance of power that was defeated. The second issue was where you'd have to have *** 60% threshold to pass *** citizen initiative and that was defeated. I think the people value uh the ability to pass by *** majority vote, an initiative act or *** constitutional amendment. And then the third one was religious freedom and that was the closest one and everybody supports religious freedom, but I think it did not pass just simply because we have the First Amendment to our U. S. Constitution, we have *** constitutional protections in our state. And so that failed on *** closer vote. What do you think about the national race? It is still going on, ballots are still being counted, there will be *** runoff to see who gets possibly control over the Senate. Were you surprised at the results? The red wave that I think some people were expecting just did not happen. Well, it was surprising and in Arkansas we had *** continued red wave, it wasn't more than we've had before, but we continued down the path of republican leadership. And so Arkansas was solid in that regard, but we expected that to happen nationwide *** lot because the polls, the media believed it, and so it's almost refreshing to say, well, the voters always have the last say and they said no, we we like *** little bit more close contest. And and uh it looks like we're gonna have *** majority in the House of Representatives, even though that's not totally clear. That's *** good check on the biden presidency and some of his progressive liberal policies. Uh but the Senate is still up in the air, I think to me the lesson of the election from *** national perspective was that candidates make *** difference and we need to nominate candidates that can win in november, can can attract independent votes. And uh, we had candidates that contracted the vote rather than expanded the vote. We lost pennsylvania's *** state that we should have one. Uh, you you look at the closeness in some other states. Uh, you know, Georgia is still pending. We won the governorship there, and by the way, every Republican incumbent governor won re election. And so I think I was very happy with that, but *** lot still to be determined in terms of the national direction who controls the Senate. All right, Governor Hutchinson, your take on the election results. Thanks for joining us today. Thank you.

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson says he's running for president in 2024, offering himself as an alternative for Republicans ready to turn the party away from Donald Trump.Video above: Hutchinson reacts to 2022 election results“I’m confident that people want leaders that want the best of the America, not those who appeal to their worst instincts,” Hutchinson told ABC's “This Week” in an interview aired Sunday. He said he would make a formal announcement in April in Arkansas.“I have made a decision and my decision is I’m going to run for president of United States,” Hutchinson said.Hutchinson, 72, left office in January after eight years as governor. He has ramped up his criticism of the former president in recent months, calling another Trump presidential nomination the “worst scenario" for Republicans and saying it likely benefit President Joe Biden's chances in 2024.In addition to Trump, Hutchinson joins a Republican field that also includes former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to jump into the race in the summer, while U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are among those considering bids.Hutchinson, who was term-limited, has been a fixture in Arkansas politics since the 1980s, when the state was predominantly Democratic. A former congressman, he was one of the House managers prosecuting the impeachment case against President Bill Clinton.Hutchinson served as President George W. Bush's head of the Drug Enforcement Administration and was an undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security.As governor, Hutchinson championed a series of income tax cuts as the state's budget surpluses grew. He signed several abortion restrictions into law, including a ban on the procedure that took effect when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last year. Hutchinson, however, has said he regretted that the measure did not include exceptions for rape or incest.Hutchinson earned the ire of Trump and social conservatives last year when he vetoed legislation banning gender-affirming medical care for children. Arkansas' majority-Republican Legislature overrode Hutchinson's veto and enacted the ban, which has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge.Trump called Hutchinson a “RINO” — a Republican In Name Only — for the veto. Hutchinson's successor, former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has said she would have signed the legislation.Hutchinson, who signed other restrictions on transgender youth into law, said the Arkansas ban went too far and that he would have signed the measure if it had focused only on surgery.Although he has supported Trump's policies, Hutchinson has become increasingly critical of the former president's rhetoric and lies about the 2020 presidential election. He said Trump's call to terminate parts of the Constitution to overturn the election hurt the country.Hutchinson also criticized Trump for meeting with white nationalist leader Nick Fuentes and the rapper Ye, who has praised Adolf Hitler and spewed antisemitic conspiracy theories. Hutchinson has contrasted that meeting to his own background as a U.S. attorney who prosecuted white supremacists in Arkansas in the 1980s.An opponent of the federal health care law, Hutchinson after taking office supported keeping Arkansas' version of Medicaid expansion. But he championed a work requirement for the law that was blocked by a federal judge.During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hutchinson tried to push back against misinformation about the virus with daily news conferences and a series of town halls he held around the state aimed at encouraging people to get vaccinated.Hutchinson infuriated death penalty opponents in 2017 when he ordered eight executions over a two-week period, scheduling them before one of the state's lethal injection drugs was set to expire. The state ultimately carried out four of the executions.

WASHINGTON —

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson says he's running for president in 2024, offering himself as an alternative for Republicans ready to turn the party away from Donald Trump.

Video above: Hutchinson reacts to 2022 election results

“I’m confident that people want leaders that want the best of the America, not those who appeal to their worst instincts,” Hutchinson told ABC's “This Week” in an interview aired Sunday. He said he would make a formal announcement in April in Arkansas.

“I have made a decision and my decision is I’m going to run for president of United States,” Hutchinson said.

Hutchinson, 72, left office in January after eight years as governor. He has ramped up his criticism of the former president in recent months, calling another Trump presidential nomination the “worst scenario" for Republicans and saying it likely benefit President Joe Biden's chances in 2024.

In addition to Trump, Hutchinson joins a Republican field that also includes former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to jump into the race in the summer, while U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are among those considering bids.

Hutchinson, who was term-limited, has been a fixture in Arkansas politics since the 1980s, when the state was predominantly Democratic. A former congressman, he was one of the House managers prosecuting the impeachment case against President Bill Clinton.

Hutchinson served as President George W. Bush's head of the Drug Enforcement Administration and was an undersecretary of the Department of Homeland Security.

As governor, Hutchinson championed a series of income tax cuts as the state's budget surpluses grew. He signed several abortion restrictions into law, including a ban on the procedure that took effect when the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade last year. Hutchinson, however, has said he regretted that the measure did not include exceptions for rape or incest.

Hutchinson earned the ire of Trump and social conservatives last year when he vetoed legislation banning gender-affirming medical care for children. Arkansas' majority-Republican Legislature overrode Hutchinson's veto and enacted the ban, which has been temporarily blocked by a federal judge.

Trump called Hutchinson a “RINO” — a Republican In Name Only — for the veto. Hutchinson's successor, former White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has said she would have signed the legislation.

Hutchinson, who signed other restrictions on transgender youth into law, said the Arkansas ban went too far and that he would have signed the measure if it had focused only on surgery.

Although he has supported Trump's policies, Hutchinson has become increasingly critical of the former president's rhetoric and lies about the 2020 presidential election. He said Trump's call to terminate parts of the Constitution to overturn the election hurt the country.

Hutchinson also criticized Trump for meeting with white nationalist leader Nick Fuentes and the rapper Ye, who has praised Adolf Hitler and spewed antisemitic conspiracy theories. Hutchinson has contrasted that meeting to his own background as a U.S. attorney who prosecuted white supremacists in Arkansas in the 1980s.

An opponent of the federal health care law, Hutchinson after taking office supported keeping Arkansas' version of Medicaid expansion. But he championed a work requirement for the law that was blocked by a federal judge.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hutchinson tried to push back against misinformation about the virus with daily news conferences and a series of town halls he held around the state aimed at encouraging people to get vaccinated.

Hutchinson infuriated death penalty opponents in 2017 when he ordered eight executions over a two-week period, scheduling them before one of the state's lethal injection drugs was set to expire. The state ultimately carried out four of the executions.

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