Will a Northeastern Republican win the GOP presidential nomination ever again?

[Suburbia]

Over the past few decades, Northeastern Republicans (Bush 41, Bush 43, Mitt Romney, Donald Trump) have won the Republican presidential nomination despite the party being Southern-centric and socially conservative.

Will a Northeastern Republican win the GOP nomination again, or does it matter?

[agate]

Why not? Nobody knows for sure who will win election in the coming decades in the Northeastern states.

[NHI]

Why not? Nobody knows for sure who will win election in the coming decades in the Northeastern states.

[Orser67]

I think it's unlikely we'll see many New Englanders, simply because the New England states are either very blue (and thus require very moderate Republicans) or very small (and thus provide a relatively poor base of support). But I could see PA and maybe NJ producing Republican candidates the old-fashioned way (i.e. after serving as governor or senator), and Trump wasn't the first NY businessman to win the GOP nomination.