Former Vice President Mike Pence is officially entering the race for the 2024 presidency by filing paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Monday, putting him in a fight with former President Donald Trump and other GOP hopefuls.
Pence will kick off his bid for the 2024 presidency at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa, on June 7, DailyMail.com confirmed last week. He will then head to New Hampshire and other early voting states to deliver his message to voters.
He will also attend a CNN town hall in Iowa with Dana Bash after his official kickoff meeting Wednesday — which also falls on his 64th birthday.
The former vice president joins a growing field of GOP hopefuls, including his longtime boss, former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is also expected to participate in the race on Wednesday.
Former Vice President Mike Pence will kick off his candidacy for president in 2024 on June 7 at a rally in Des Moines, Iowa.
An Indiana native, Pence has been teasing a 2024 presidential bid for months and last weekend attended Sen. Joni Ernst’s upcoming Roast & Ride event in Iowa, a well-known “cattle call” event for presidential candidates.
He served twelve years in the U.S. House of Representatives and four years in Indiana as state governor.
Pence, is known for his trademark pro-life views, which he says he is “unashamed” about. He also supported cuts in Medicare and Medicaid and is fully behind providing aid to Ukraine against Russia’s attacks.
He has Reagan-era views on conservatism and separate federal and state rights.
The former vice president has been zigzagging through early voting states in recent months to build momentum with the vote count.
He will now officially face his former boss, Donald Trump, as the 2024 primary gets underway.
The former vice president is trailing Trump and DeSantis by about six percent in recent polls.
Trump has had a steady lead over the GOP package as support for DeSantis has dwindled.
Pence presented his ideal “standard bearer” for the Republican Party last month at a conference of the Federalist Society in Washington, DC.
“I believe that as conservatives we hold the keys, we hold the solutions for America. But our challenge is to express that in a way that allows us to move our nation forward and I believe we can,” Pence said, referring to the 2024 election.
Pence labeled the Biden administration’s track record a “disaster” and continues to compare the performance of the Trump-Pence administration to the policy failures of the current leadership.
The first time Pence lashed out at former President Donald Trump was more than a year ago, in February 2022, before a similar mob of conservative legal leaders.
In his first real rebuke of the former president, Pence told the Florida Federalist Society mob, “President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election.’
The former vice president has been zigzagging through early voting states in recent months
Since then, Pence has become more vocal about the pitfalls of Trump’s approach in the aftermath of the 2020 election.
The former vice president recently released a book titled “So Help Me God,” detailing his experiences at the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
During the riot at the Capitol, pro-Trump supporter chanted “hang Mike Pence,” defending the former president.
Pence was also subpoenaed in a D.C. federal court and testified before a grand jury in a case related to the April 6 January riot at the Capitol.
The former vice president did not contest the subpoena, despite Trump’s attorneys willing to intervene on his behalf and seek executive privilege immunity.
Last week, Pence was informed by the Justice Department that he will not be prosecuted for having classified documents in his Indiana home.
DOJ sent a letter Thursday to Pence’s attorney confirming no criminal charges will follow days before he will enter the White House race.
The FBI searched his $1.9 million home in Carmel, Indiana, in February and found sensitive files with secret markings.
The content of the documents is still not clear, but the federal government’s top prosecutors have decided not to take any further action.
Meanwhile, the investigation of classified documents into his longtime boss Donald Trump appears to be heating up, and a special counsel is also examining classified documents found in President Joe Biden’s Delaware home and lobby office in Washington.