Pence Launches 2024 Campaign With Swipes at Trump

The former vice president kicked off his White House bid with a video and speech in which he positioned himself as the right leader for troubled times.

Former Vice President Mike Pence kicked off his campaign for the White House on Wednesday, officially setting up a battle with former President Donald Trump – his ex-boss and running mate whom he stood resolutely behind until the violent insurrection at the Capitol.

Though Pence filed paperwork with the Federal Elections Commission declaring his candidacy for the GOP nomination on Monday, he launched his campaign early Wednesday morning with a 2 1/2 minute video positioning himself as the right leader for troubled times. He then delivered a speech in Iowa on Wednesday afternoon in which he levied much more explicit criticism at his former boss.

The slickly produced spot did not focus on any specific policy issues but rather cycled through a number of familiar Republican warnings about the failures of the Biden administration – and, perhaps more notably, took several oblique swipes at Trump, all without mentioning him by name.

“I had the great honor to serve in Congress, as governor and as your vice president. And I'll always be proud of the progress we made together for a stronger, more prosperous America,” Pence says in the video.

“But today, our country's in a lot of trouble. President Joe Biden and the radical left have weakened America at home and abroad. The American dream is being crushed under runaway inflation. Wages are dropping, recession is looming. Our southern border is under siege, and the enemies of freedom are on the march around the world. And we're still timeless American values are under assault as never before,” he says.

The former vice president – who turned 64 on Wednesday – goes on to describe himself as a leader who can appeal to the “better angels” of Americans, appearing to knock Trump’s controversial and bombastic leadership style and his role leading up to the insurrection, in which Pence was a target of rioters due to his commitment to certify the results of the 2020 election.“We're better than this. We can turn this country around but different times call for different leadership. Today our party in our country needs a leader that will appeal as Lincoln said, to the better angels of our nature,” Pence says in the video.

Though Pence did not mention Trump by name in the video, he was much more direct during a speech in Ankeny, Iowa, on Wednesday afternoon.

He specifically referenced the fact that Trump asked him to decline to certify the election results and contributed to the insurrection.

“On that fateful date, President Trump’s words were reckless, and he endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol. But the American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and our Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice. I chose the Constitution and I always will,” Pence said.
“I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president again,” he said.

Pence also knocked Trump for what he sees as the president not campaigning this cycle as a conservative Republican.

Pence’s conservative views on fiscal and social policy are well established, and he will seek to appeal to both moderates looking for a steady hand as well as evangelicals drawn to his hardline stance on issues like abortion. Pence has backed a national abortion ban and said previously that he would work to ensure the procedure is illegal in every state.

He has teased his run for president for months, increasing his availability to news outlets and embarking on a series of visits to early primary states.

Despite his broad name recognition, he faces a steep climb. He is despised by a certain chunk of Trump’s base that disagrees with his decision to certify the election results. His challenge will lie in separating himself enough from Trump that he appears a distinct – and better – choice, while also taking care not to alienate Trump supporters within the GOP primary voter pool.
Pence is currently netting single-digit support among potential voters, nabbing just 3.8% support according to an average of early polling data compiled by RealClearPolitics.

He will make his pitch more directly to voters Wednesday night in a television town hall with CNN.