Former Vice President Mike Pence Files Paperwork For 2024 Presidential Bid, Setting Up Clash With Trump

He will formally launch his nomination on Wednesday, with a video and event in Des Moines, Iowa.

Former US Vice President and Republican leader Mike Pence

Source : Getty

Former US Vice President Mike Pence filed his paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Monday, declaring his campaign for president in 2024. He will formally launch his nomination on Wednesday, with a video and event in Des Moines, Iowa. This will also be the day of his 64th birthday. This nomination will set him up against his former boss, Donald Trump, with whom he once loyally stood by. This comes just two years after their time in the White House ended with an insurrection at the US Capitol on January 6, 2021 and Pence fleeing for his life.

Pence’s nomination would be in many ways, a return to positions long associated with the Republican establishment but abandoned as Trump reshaped the party in his image.

A staunch social conservative, the former governor of Indiana has increasingly distanced himself from Trump, saying his encouragement of the rioters who attacked the US Capitol endangered Pence and his family, who were in the building at the time, reported Reuters.

Talking about it, Pence said, “President Trump was wrong. I had no right to overturn the election, and his reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day, and I know that history will hold Donald Trump accountable,” reported The Guardian.

Pence joins a growing field of Republican candidates, primarily dominated by Trump, who enjoys commanding polling leads, followed by the rightwing Florida Governor, Ron DeSantis. Pence has not registered significantly in polling, generally contesting third place with the former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley. Other declared candidates include the South Carolina senator Tim Scott, the former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson and Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur.

According to AP, Pence describes himself as “a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order,” spent months laying the groundwork for an expected run, holding events in early voting states like Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire, visiting churches, delivering policy speeches and courting donors.

The report further stated that Pence’s team sees Iowa and its evangelical Christian voters as critical for his win. His advisers say he will campaign in the state, visiting all of the 99 counties.

Only six former US vice presidents have been elected to the White House, including Biden, who is running for a second term.