Mike Pence is reportedly preparing to launch his 2024 campaign and portraying himself as a ‘classic conservative’ as he attempts to ‘reintroduce’ himself to the nation ‘as his own man’.
Pence, 63, has long teased the idea of a race and has long wondered how well he will align with his former boss Donald Trump.
Trump is currently comfortably ahead in the polls: FiveThirtyEight put him at 52.5%, in their poll of the polls, with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis – who has yet to say – at 21.9%.
Pence both trails by a wide margin, with just 5.7% support.
But the team and the allies of the former vice-president told the New York Times they weren’t concerned about the initial lack of enthusiasm.
Mike Pence is seen April 25 speaking at the Federalist Society in Washington DC. He hopes to run in 2024 as a ‘classic conservative’
Donald Trump is seen January 6, 2021 at the ‘Stop the Steal’ rally that preceded the Capitol riot. Trump accused Pence of letting him down and his supporters chanted: ‘Hang Mike Pence’
Trump supporters brought a gallows to the Capitol chanting: ‘Hang Mike Pence’
“This campaign is going to bring Mike Pence back into the country as his own man,” said Scott Reed, a veteran conservative strategist who led Bob Dole’s 1996 presidential campaign.
Reed helps set up Pence’s super PAC, called Committed to America. “People know Mike Pence. They just don’t know him well,” Reed added.
Pence is due to deliver a speech in New Hampshire — a vital early-voting state — on Tuesday night, where he would call for “free trade with free nations.”
The speech aims to position himself as a Reagan conservative, focused on free trade and hoping to win over the Christian right, fiscal conservatives and national security hawks.
Pence’s team also hopes he can do well in Iowa — the first state to vote in the primaries and a state with a strong base of evangelical voters likely to be impressed by Pence’s own faith.
“Iowa is more like Indiana than any other state in the union,” said Pence, a former governor of Indiana. “It feels like home.”
Pence has set out to distinguish itself from its rivals by emphasizing tighter budgets – taking aim at its former boss in doing so.
Trump is seen with Pence in November 2020, campaigning for re-election
Pence is seen on January 6, 2021 inside the Capitol as it was overrun with people crying out for his blood
“It’s pretty remarkable that Joe Biden and Donald Trump have the same stance on fiscal solvency: the stance of never touching Social Security and Medicare,” he said.
He’s also at odds with Trump on abortion: Trump said it’s a problem for states, and last week’s CNN town hall declined to be drawn to what he thought was the right threshold. .
Pence, strongly pro-life, has repeatedly said he wants a nationwide abortion ban.
“For the former president and others who aspire to the highest office in the land to relegate this issue to the states, I think it’s a mistake,” he said.
His senior adviser, Marc Short, said Pence viewed a 15-week nationwide ban as a “minimum threshold.”
Pence faces an uphill battle for the nomination, with much of the attention and fundraising so far focused on Trump and DeSantis, who is planning his own entry into the race in the coming weeks.
The estate also includes former former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley; tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.
South Carolina senator Tim Scott has formed a presidential search committee and is expected to officially launch his campaign next week.
Pence, seen in Salt Lake City on April 28, is expected to launch his campaign in the coming weeks
Pence’s team spoke specifically about Pence’s role on Jan. 6, 2021, when he resisted Trump’s pressure campaign to overturn the 2020 election results — a power that Pence, as vice president, never owned.
Pence had been conducting a joint session of Congress to certify President Joe Biden’s victory when a violent mob of Trump supporters stormed into the Capitol, smashing windows, kicking down doors and clashing with police.
Pence was rushed to safety in a Senate loading dock as some outside the building chanted, “Hang Mike Pence!”
Pence’s allies believe voters will be drawn to Pence’s defense of the Constitution.
Still, it’s unclear how important that position will be in a party still dominated by the former president.
Much of Trump’s base will never forgive Pence for his actions that day, while many Trump critics view the former vice president as complicit in Trump’s most controversial actions.
A Quinnipiac University National Poll released in May found that 36% of Republicans nationwide view Pence unfavorably — a higher unfavorable rating than either Trump or DeSantis.
