The former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee spoke out on Sunday to demand that former President Donald Trump not announce his potential 2024 run before the midterm elections later this year.

After admitting to Fox News host Howard Kurtz that Trump had not asked his advice on 2024, Huckabee said that the former president announcing a 2024 presidential run before November would cause Republicans to “lose momentum” heading into the midterms.

“The disaster is that suddenly all these candidates who have spent the last year and a half running are not going to be talking about the issues that they’re running on,” Huckabee said, according to The Hill.

“They’re going to be talking whether they support or don’t support Donald Trump getting into the race for president, so it’s just a distraction that we don’t need,” he added. “We need to win as Republicans in the midterms.”

While Trump has said that he’s made a decision about 2024, he has yet to reveal it publicly, but sources have said that he could do so as early as sometime this summer.

“You’ve got to get one step first, and then you take the other steps,” Huckabee said. “Right now, Republicans need to focus on only one election, and that’s the 2022 midterms.”

Huckabee, who tried and failed to secure the Republican presidential nomination in both 2008 and 2016, went on to say that a Republican victory in the midterm elections are more important than ever because of Democrats’ climate, health care and tax reconciliation package that passed in the Senate earlier in the day on Sunday.

“When I look at this bill that’s being shoved through the Senate right now, I’m more convinced than ever,” Huckabee said. “We better get the Republicans in there as quickly as possible, and the last thing we need is something that might disrupt that.”

While it is believed that Republicans will win back the House, the Senate is looking like it will be a much closer battle. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) warned last week that the Senate race is “going to be very tight.”

“We have a 50-50 nation,” McConnell told Fox News. “And I think when this Senate race smoke clears, we’re likely to have a very, very close Senate still, with us up slightly or the Democrats up slightly.”

Huckabee’s statements on this came a day before Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home was shockingly raided by the FBI.

“The purpose of the raid was, from what they said, was because the National Archives wanted to corroborate whether or not Donald Trump had any documents in his possession,” said Trump’s son Eric, according to NPR. “And my father has worked so collaboratively with them for months. In fact, the lawyer that’s been working on this was totally shocked. He goes, ‘I have such an amazing relationship with these people and all of a sudden, on no notice, they send 20 cars and 30 agents?’”

Trump himself said Mar-a-Lago was “under siege, raided, and occupied by a large group of FBI agents.”

“After working and cooperating with the relevant government agencies, this unannounced raid on my home was not necessary or appropriate,” he added.

It will certainly be interesting to see how all of this impacts Trump’s 2024 decision.

The post Mike Huckabee Demands Trump Not Announce His 2024 Run Before Midterms – ‘Distraction We Don’t Need’ appeared first on Rob Maness.