Former President of the United States Donald Trump speaking with supporters at a "Save America" rally at Country Thunder Arizona in Florence, Arizona. Image via Gage Skidmore.
Former Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey is unlikely to be a Republican presidential candidate in 2028. He is a traditional conservative, not ultra-MAGA. And many MAGA Republicans still resent him for certifying Joe Biden's victory in Arizona in the 2020 presidential election.
But Never Trump conservative George Will admires Ducey's brand of non-MAGA conservatism, arguing that Ducey is exactly the type of Republican should be looking to as a presidential candidate in 2028. And in his May 13 column for the Washington Post, Will envisions what a Ducey campaign announcement would sound like in a non-MAGA version of the GOP.
Will notes that the column and was his idea, not Ducey's — saying, "The following is an imagined announcement. The fellow supposedly speaking has not been consulted about this."
The 84-year-old Will, who left the GOP in response to Donald Trump and the MAGA movement, imagines Ducey saying, "I am Doug Ducey, a former two-term governor of Arizona, now a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. I say what Bill Lee, Tennessee's Republican governor, says: 'I'm a conservative. I'm just not angry about it.' Americans who enjoy the tone and substance of today's politics can choose from candidates promising more of the same. But voters who are exhausted and embarrassed by endless turmoil and vitriol from both sides of the political spectrum deserve a choice, not an echo."
In Ducey's fictional 2028 campaign announcement, he goes on to "promise calm after the current storm of animosities."
"A Ducey presidency will not be constantly in your face or on your mind," the "speech" says. "You might go weeks without being reminded that I am there, out of sight, conducting the president's principal business as the Constitution defines it: taking care that the laws are faithfully executed. I will try to shrink the president's prominence by encouraging Congress' revival. Executive orders will be few because legitimate presidential power derives only from unambiguous acts of Congress, or the Constitution…. The antidote for presidential grandiosity, and consequent governmental strutting, is rediscovering republican — small 'r' — simplicity."
Will's vision of a reformed Republican Party reflects broader concerns within establishment conservative circles about the party's direction under Trump's continued influence.
The 2028 presidential race is expected to be contentious, with MAGA candidates likely to dominate the primary field. Non-MAGA Republicans face an uphill battle in convincing primary voters to embrace a return to traditional conservatism and institutional norms. Ducey, despite his executive experience and economic record as Arizona governor, remains a polarizing figure within Republican circles due to his 2020 election certification.
