Pence joins a crowded and growing field of Republican candidates, led by Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Former Vice President of the United States Mike Pence has formally announced that he will be campaigning for the Republican nomination for the 2024 presidential race.
The announcement puts him up against former President Donald Trump, the current frontrunner and Pence’s former boss.
Pence’s campaign filed a statement of candidacy with the Federal Election Commission on Monday, and the 63-year-old is expected to launch his campaign Wednesday in the early nominee state of Iowa.
The former Indiana governor, a staunch social conservative and evangelical Christian, has increasingly distanced himself from Trump after rejecting the former president’s demands to overturn the 2020 election in his role as Senate President.
Pence joins a busy and growing field of Republican candidates, including Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Senator Tim Scott and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum also plans to enter the race on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with Burgum’s plans, while former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie jumps into the race on Tuesday , bringing the total number of Republican candidates into the double digits.
The number of candidates vying for the nomination is worrying many Trump opponents within the Republican Party, who fear the anti-Trump vote could split and hand the party’s nomination to the former president.
Pence has spent much of the past two years touring early-nominee states like Iowa and New Hampshire to reinforce his political vision as a “Christian, conservative, Republican – in that order” .
He describes himself as a traditional Republican, concerned with fiscal responsibility and family values, who can implement Trump’s economic policies without the drama.
He has also been strongly committed to Ukraine and refused to rule out cuts in social benefits.
While his politics are popular among Republicans, critics question whether Pence has a constituency in a party now more focused on populism and cultural politics than traditional conservatism.