Eighth time is a charm? Pence inches closer to 2024 presidential announcement with another visit to Iowa as he flirts with running against his former running mate Trump
- Former Vice President Mike Pence will make his eighth trip to Iowa on Wednesday since leaving the White House
- He flirts with whether he should launch a presidential campaign against his ex-running mate, former President Donald Trump
- Pence condemned Trump’s role on Jan. 6, but called a potential charge against Trump in Manhattan “politically charged”
Former Vice President Mike Pence will make his eighth trip to Iowa on Wednesday as he flirts with launching a presidential bid against his ex-running mate, former President Donald Trump.
Pence hosts breakfast, lunch, and dinner events with Republican groups in Urbandale, near Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, and then Coralville, just outside of Iowa City. He will hold a “fireside chat” and sign books, and address a Reagan-themed dinner.
Iowa will continue to host the nation’s first Republican presidential caucus despite the Democrats rescheduling their primaries, and it will take place early next year.
The former vice president’s trip to Hawkeye State comes as all eyes are on Manhattan district attorney Alvin Bragg and whether the grand jury he assembled in New York will charge Trump with a crime related to the hush money payments in 2016 to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Pence has criticized the potential charges, telling ABC’s Jonathan Karl that the prosecution’s actions are “politically charged” and “not what the American people want to see.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence will make his eighth trip to Iowa on Wednesday as he flirts with launching a presidential bid against his ex-running mate, former President Donald Trump
Trump launched his 2024 campaign in mid-November and is photographed Saturday at his rally in Waco, Texas
At the same time, Pence lashed out at Trump’s role in the January 6 attack on the Capitol earlier this month in front of an elite D.C. audience.
President Trump was wrong. I had no right to overturn the election, and his reckless words endangered my family and everyone in the Capitol that day, and I know history will hold Donald Trump accountable,” Pence said at the Gridiron Dinner, which was attended by a who’s who of Washington, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, Presidential Special Envoy for Climate Change John Kerry, Secretary of State Antony Blinken and White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre.
Trump and Pence argued over the ex-president’s decision to falsely claim that widespread voter fraud cost him a second term in office.
Trump urged Pence to reject Electoral College votes from swing states that President Joe Biden won when he presided over the Jan. 6 joint session of Congress.
Trump is also in legal hot water on Jan. 6, with Special Counsel Jack Smith overseeing the Justice Department’s investigation into the matter.
Smith is also responsible for the case involving Trump’s handling of classified documents after leaving office.
Some classified documents were also found in Pence’s Indiana home.
HAPPIER TIMES: Trump (left) points to Pence (right) at the 2016 Cleveland Republican National Convention after selecting Indiana governor to be his ticket buddy
If Pence enters the race, he’ll be catching up big time, as he’s significantly behind Trump — as well as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — in both national and early state polls.
The polling average of Real Clear Politics of the national surveys, Pence has 6.2 percent.
Meanwhile, Trump sits at 44.3 percent and DeSantis at 29.2 percent.
Trump announced a 2024 bid in mid-November, while DeSantis has yet to launch a campaign.
Other Republicans already officially in the race include former UN ambassador. Nikki Haley and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.
A poll conducted by Public Opinion Strategies and reported by Axios Sunday found that Trump, DeSantis and Haley had better odds than Pence in Iowa and in New Hampshire, which will hold the nation’s first GOP primaries in 2024.
In Iowa, 59 percent of GOP primary voters had a positive view of the former vice president. But 60 percent said the same about Haley, 74 said the same about Trump, and 81 percent felt the same way about DeSantis.