Ex-President Donald Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence is reportedly set to challenge his former boss by entering the 2024 race next week.
Pence plans to announce his presidential bid in a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, on June 7, which will be his 64th birthday, two people with knowledge on his plans said late Wednesday.
The former vice president joins a growing field for the Republican nomination, with Trump still the frontrunner and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who announced last week as the clear second. Other candidates include former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.
Pence is choosing to launch his bid in the early-voting state of Iowa, instead of his home state of Indiana.
‘We view this race as absolutely wide open, and Iowa is really going to solidify itself as the pivotal player,’ a source told NBC News.
‘It’s a place that values Mike Pence’s principles – traditional conservative principles – deep-rooted faith and uncommon character.’
Pence was a loyal vice president until Trump urged him, as he presided over the 2020 Electoral College results counting, to reject President Joe Biden’s victory. During the count, Trump supporters stormed the Capitol and chanted ‘hang Mike Pence’.
Since then, Pence has split off various aspects of Trump’s agenda including by pushing for Social Security and Medicare cuts and fully backing American support for Ukraine. Pence has appealed directly to evangelical Christians and cast himself as a consensus-seeking alternative to Trump. He served a dozen years in the House and then as Indiana’s governor for four years.
Pence’s campaign kickoff event is scheduled on the same day that he is slated to speak in a CNN Republican presidential town hall in Iowa moderated by the network’s political anchor and correspondent Dana Bash.
It comes four weeks after CNN’s widely criticized town hall hosting Trump, in which he repeated his 2020 presidential election fraud lies and criticized the host Kaitlan Collins and accuser E Jean Carroll. As with Trump, the Pence town hall will include questions from Republican voters in the audience.
Despite public backlash, the network defended the upcoming town hall with Trump’s once second-in-command.
‘CNN’s Town Hall slate reflects the dynamics of the 2024 race, which features numerous contenders vying for the Republican nomination to challenge President Biden’s bid for re-election,’ a spokesperson told the New York Post on Thursday.
Pence is also reportedly planning to launch his campaign on Wednesday with a video.
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