OAN’s Noah Herring
11:03 AM – Monday, June 5, 2023
Former Vice-President Mike Pence filed paperwork on Monday with the Federal Election Commission officially launching his 2024 Republican presidential campaign against former President Donald Trump.
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Pence is reportedly looking to announce his candidacy on Wednesday in Des Moines, Iowa, at a CNN town hall event.
The former vice president will enter the crowded GOP field, which has been trailing behind Trump in recent presidential polls by double digits. Meanwhile, Florida Governor Ron Desantis’ polling results have led him to currently place in second place, much ahead of the rest of the competitors, but still trailing Trump.
Pence was Indiana’s governor before Trump named him his running mate in 2016. However, their relationship fell apart after the events of January 6th, 2021, when Pence refused to reject the election results. Since then, the two have grown apart, leading Pence to call out his former running mate and instead run against him.
Pence has shifted most of his focus on Iowa, which holds the first caucus of the election. He has visited the state around a dozen times in the past year, with political advisors saying that he is also prepared to visit all 99 of the state’s counties.
“Should we enter the race later this week I’m very confident that we’ll have the support to be able to carry our message, tell our story, which is not just my years as vice president but also years as governor of a conservative state leading a conservative agenda, record employment, as also being a conservative leader in the Congress of the United States, fighting against the big spenders in my own party,” Pence said in an interview last weekend.
Pence is the first running mate in 80 years to run against his former boss. The last person to do so was Vice President John Nance Garner running against President Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940 presidential election.
When asked about Trump’s third time running, Pence said, “I think that we’ll have better choices in 2024.”
Pence has gathered support over the years from many Evangelical voters, since he frequently cites his Christian faith and other societal issues surrounding that topic, including religious freedom and abortion issues.
Pence has also supported states passing more restrictive abortion laws, including taking mifepristone, a pill most commonly used for abortion, completely off the market. He has also stated that he would support legislation that would ban abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The former vice president is expected to run into trouble while attempting to garner support from Trump supporters, as they will likely never forgive Pence for failing to reject the 2020 election results.
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