Former Vice President Mike Pence filed paperwork Monday to declare his campaign for president in 2024, posing a challenge to his former boss, Donald Trump, just two years after his White House tenure ended with an insurrection on Capitol Hill. United States and Pence fleeing for his life.
Pence, the nation's 48th vice president, will formally launch his bid for the Republican nomination with a video and event in Des Moines, Iowa, on his 64th birthday on Wednesday, according to people familiar with his plans. On Monday he made his candidacy official before the Federal Electoral Commission.
While Trump currently leads the early fight for the nomination, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis coming in second, Pence supporters see a lane for a trusted conservative who embraces many of the previous administration's policies, but without the constant tumult.
Though he often lauds the achievements of the "Trump-Pence government," a Pence nomination would in many ways mark a return to positions associated with the Republican establishment but abandoned when Trump reshaped the party in his image. Pence has warned against the rising populist tide in the party, and aides see him as the only traditional, Reagan-style conservative in the race.
A staunch opponent of abortion rights, Pence supports a national ban on the procedure and has campaigned against gender-affirming policies in schools. He has argued that changes to Social Security and Medicare, such as raising the eligibility age, need to be on the table to keep the programs solvent – which both Trump and DeSantis have opposed, and he criticized DeSantis. for his growing feud with Disney. He has also said the United States should offer more support to Ukraine against Russian aggression, while admonishing "Putin apologists" in the party who are unwilling to take on the Russian leader.
