While some Republican governors have stayed out of weighing in with 2024 GOP presidential primary endorsements, Alaska GOP Gov. Mike Dunleavy boldly stepped forward to endorse former President Donald Trump.
Dunleavy's endorsement comes Tuesday, Politico reported, on the eve of the first GOP primary debate to be held Wednesday night in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
Just five of the 26 Republican governors have endorsed in the race, while two are running themselves — Florida GOP Gov. Ron DeSantis and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.
Trump has received the endorsement from three of them, including South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice, and Dunleavy, according to the report.
The other two gubernatorial endorsements were split between DeSantis (Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt) and former Vice President Mike Pence (Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb, from his home state).
Trump has received the endorsement from 80 members of Congress, more than 16 times those endorsing DeSantis, according to Politico.
Trump recently spoke by phone with Dunleavy before the report of the endorsement came.
Alaska is not a large state in the primary cycle, but it is a Super Tuesday primary state, which tends to be the date the ultimate nominee takes a large step forward historically.
Trump has endorsed Dunleavy three times for governor, including 2018, in 2019 during a potential recall election, and most recently in the 2022 midterms, when Dunleavy became the first governor in the state since 1998 to win back-to-back terms.