Former President Donald Trump was greeted with cheers by supporters in Robstown, Texas, where he spoke about his first two runs for the White House and hinted that he may run for a third term.

“To make our country successful, safe and great again, I’ll probably have to do it (run) again,” he said last month.

The carefully used word “maybe” may soon be dropped from his vocabulary as Mr. Trump campaigns. Aides to the former president are quietly preparing for a 2024 presidential campaign that could begin as soon as next week’s congressional elections, as Mr. Trump tries to capitalize on expected Republican victories to improve his chances of became the main candidate of his party.

“I’m 95% sure he’s going to run,” says Reince Priebus, Mr. Trump’s former White House chief of staff. “The real question is, will there be other heavyweight challengers running? If President Trump runs, it will be very difficult for any Republican to win against him,” added Mr. Priebus.

Another campaign would be a remarkable turnaround for any former president, even more so for Mr. Trump, who made history as the first to be impeached twice and remains embroiled in multiple criminal investigations, including investigations into the retention of classified information at Mar-a-Lago and his efforts to pressure election officials to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election.

But Mr. Trump, according to people close to him, is eager to get back into the political game. He has talked about a possible comeback since before he left the White House, but aides and allies view the two-week period after the Nov. 8 election as a possible window to announce a candidacy, though they caution that he has not decision yet and that – as always when it comes to Mr Trump – things could change, especially if the election results are delayed due to a recount or a possible runoff in Georgia.

Preparations for a possible declaration come as the former president has stepped up efforts to help candidates in the final weeks before the election, hoping to use potential Republican wins in Congress to give his campaign a boost.

Mr Trump has dramatically increased spending on his favorite candidates after facing criticism that he had not helped enough financially. In the meantime, he continues to collect small dollar donations. His Political Action Committee, MAGA Inc. newly formed, has so far spent more than $16.4 million on ads in a handful of contested states, and additional donations are expected on Election Day, according to sources with knowledge of the situation but who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operations internal.

And former President Trump continues to hold events in support of his favorite candidates, attending 30 rallies in up to 17 states so far, along with dozens of virtual appearances and more than 50 candidate fundraisers. His final stops before the Nov. 8 election will be in Ohio and Pennsylvania, two swing states where his support helped the candidates secure their nominations. He will also return to Iowa, home to the calendar’s first presidential nominating contest.

Mr. Trump’s Save America Political Action Committee says it has raised nearly $350 million this election cycle for Republican candidates and party committees, including online fundraising appeals.

Campaigning for the 2024 election will practically begin when the polls close on November 8, and potential challengers have spent months carefully laying the groundwork for their expected campaigns. That includes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely seen as Mr. Trump’s strongest challenger and has cultivated a deep network of donors as he runs for re-election.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Rick Scott and Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton have campaigned aggressively for candidates in the Nov. 8 election, as have former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former US ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley.

Former President Trump, meanwhile, faces mounting challenges. He remains a deeply polarizing figure, especially after spending the past two years spreading lies about the 2020 election. And though he remains extremely popular among Republicans, an October AP-NORC poll found that 43% of respondents said that they do not want him to run for president in 2024.

Considering exactly polarization, many in Mr. Trump’s orbit had urged him to hold off on making any announcements until after the midterm elections to avoid turning the election into a referendum on him.

Others close to the former president remain skeptical of the possibility of another run, arguing that his ego cannot accept another defeat or that he may fear a possible lawsuit. Others question whether he will manage to be the Republican nominee in 2024, even if he starts a campaign.

Another challenge for Mr. Trump is the many legal issues he faces.

The Department of Justice is conducting an intensive investigation into the presence of hundreds of classified documents at his club in Palm Beach, Florida. Georgia state prosecutors continue to investigate his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, as do the Justice Department and the House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol, which recently sent him a subpoena to appear as a witness.

In New York, Attorney General Letitia James has sued Mr. Trump, alleging that his company engaged in accounting fraud for decades. The Trump Organization is now on trial on criminal charges of tax fraud, and Mr. Trump recently took the stand to testify in a lawsuit filed by E. Jean Carroll, who claims the former president raped her in the mid-1990s. Mr. Trump denies the allegations.

At an Iowa Republican Party fundraiser hosted by Mr. Pence, voters praised Mr. Trump’s time as president, but were not all on the same page about the possibility of another race.

“I would like him to run again,” said 81-year-old Jane Murphy, a Republican volunteer who lives in Davenport. “He makes me angry with some of the things he says. But it does the job.”

But Carol Crain, a Republican activist from eastern Iowa, expressed reservations.

“I think a lot of Republicans are tired of the drama and the conflict,” said the 73-year-old Crain. “It’s really exhausting. To each other, people say that it would be better if he supported someone and left on his own.”