When asked whether he would back former President Donald Trump if he were to win the GOP nomination for president in 2024, Ohio Republican U.S. Senate candidate Matt Dolan remained silent.

Dolan would still need to make it through a primary before taking on Ohio's Sherrod Brown, the current U.S. senator, according to a report by Breitbart News.

On Red and Blue, a CBS News program, he was questioned about whether he would back Trump in the 2024 presidential election, a question that could sometimes make or break the outcome.

From the Interview

The interviewer asked if he'd need to secure the Republican nomination for the Senate before taking on Senator Brown: "Let’s say former president Donald Trump is the Republican nominee. Would you support that? Would you support him as the nominee, if he wins the nomination?"

Dolan responded saying, "The Republican nominee is gotta be somebody that focuses on tomorrow, all the issue we talked about… inflation, border security. That’s what the Republican nominee is going to do.

"If the Republican nominee runs on yesterday, and runs on a campaign…and they win… Look I would have to take a long hard look, whether or not they’re actually representing what we need to get done in Washington."

Dolan stated in the interview that he is in favor of sending "American resources and American weaponry" to Ukraine in order to "defend against this invasion" by Russia.

Additionally, he asserted that President Biden "is ultimately going to do some of the things I agree with," but that he is moving too slowly to take action against Russia.

Dolan's Campaign

Dolan is attempting to run for the United States Senate for the second time in a row. Before defeating then-Rep. Tim Ryan in the general election in 2022, Dolan lost the Republican nomination to J.D. Vance, who had also received Trump's support (D-OH).

Trump received 53.3 percent of the vote in Ohio during the 2016 presidential election, compared to Biden's 45.2 percent.

Similar to 2022, Vance triumphed with 53.1 percent of the vote while Ryan received only 46.9 percent.

Historically, incumbent presidents have a significant advantage in presidential elections. Since 1900, there have been 20 presidential elections in which an incumbent was running for re-election, and the incumbent won in 14 of those elections. This suggests that the odds of an incumbent president winning re-election are generally favorable.

However, there have been instances in which an incumbent president was defeated by a challenger. For example, in 1992, Bill Clinton, a new candidate, defeated incumbent President George H.W. Bush, and in 1980, Ronald Reagan, a challenger, defeated incumbent President Jimmy Carter.

These elections were characterized by specific circumstances, including economic recession and unpopularity of the incumbents.