Republican Sen. Tom Cotton decides against 2024 presidential bid

By Gabby Orr and Michael Warren, CNN

Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas has decided to forgo a 2024 campaign for the GOP presidential nomination, three sources familiar with the matter tell CNN.

Cotton is the first high-profile Republican to remove himself from a wide list of rumored GOP presidential hopefuls that includes former President Donald Trump, who himself appears to be on the brink of announcing.

One of the sources familiar with the matter said Cotton only recently came to the decision following months of consultation with donors, aides, allies and his own family. He’s told donors he ultimately did not want to be away from his two young sons, who are five and seven years old, according to a second source.

Like several other rumored GOP contenders, Cotton had recently made trips to Iowa and New Hampshire — two of the earliest voting states in the GOP primary. The Afghanistan and Iraq War veteran was seen by some as a strong possible contender from the party’s national security wing after having positioned himself as one of the Senate’s biggest China hawks.

One of the sources said Cotton has made clear to donors that he remains open to serving in a future Republican administration.

Cotton’s 2024 decision, which was first reported by Politico, comes as aides to Trump eye the third week of November as an ideal launch point for his 2024 presidential campaign if Republicans fare well in the midterm elections.

Two sources said Trump’s team has specifically discussed November 14 as one possible announcement date, which would come in the middle of an overseas trip to Asia that President Joe Biden has long been scheduled to make.

Still, Trump could face primary challenges from a number of other high-profile figures in the party, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

For the past two years, Trump and DeSantis have coexisted on opposite ends of Florida — Trump plotting his next move from his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach and DeSantis building himself into a household name from the state capital in Tallahassee.

Unlike other potential 2024 contenders, DeSantis has not declined to run against Trump in a primary, much to Trump’s ire.

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CNN’s Steve Contorno and Paul LeBlanc contributed to this report.