Texas pastor takes on Trump as he becomes latest long-shot Republican presidential candidate

Ryan Binkley says he is ‘absolutely’ confident he could beat Trump despite not holding elected office and having little name recognition

Texas pastor and businessman Ryan Binkley has announced that he would seek the Republican nomination for president in 2024, The Dallas Morning News reported.

Mr Binkley held a rally at the University of Texas at Dallas’ campus to announce his candidacy. Mr Binkley said he wanted to address immigration and border security with “peace, safety, security and care.”

Mr Binkley, who holds no elected office and has little political experience, would certainly face an uphill challenge in a crowded Republican primary field that includes former president Donald Trump, former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson, former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy. In addition, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina announced an exploratory committee for a 2024 bid earlier this month.

“We have to be unified,” Mr Binkley said. “We have to be in this place, because if we’re in a time of uncertainty, what it’s going to take is faith in God and faith in each other to get us through, and it’s not time for us to back down. It’s time for us to believe.”

Along with being a pastor, Mr Binkley also leads Generational Group, a business advisory firm. He also worked for Procter & Gamble. He cited his business experience in his announcement.

“It has been decreasing in value over time because we’ve not had good monetary policy, so we’ve not been meeting our budget,” he said. “We keep printing money in order to meet the debt obligations we have. We have to get our budget in order, and then it will be more valuable than ever.”

Mr Binkley also co-founded Create Church in Richardson, Texas.

“God spoke to my heart quite often about the direction for our country, where we’re headed, and the message for us is it’s time for us to unify again and it’s time for us to love our neighbor again and to get involved in the lives of people,” he said.

The businessman and pastor said that Texas risked falling into Democratic hands if Republicans do not correct their course.

“Texas is a Red state, it’s a Republican state, but yet the message that we carried as the Republican Party wasn’t enough to win Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin,” he said. “So we need to have our message be a little more clear and reach all the segments of our society, and I think we can do that.”

Mr Binkley said he is “absolutely” confident that he could take on Mr Trump.