Former VP Mike Pence announces 2024 presidential run

AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File

Former Vice President Mike Pence has officially thrown his hat in the ring with the launch of his 2024 presidential campaign. The move comes just days after he filed to run for the position.

Pence, who is decidedly not a favorite among Trump voters, is expected to go up against a growing pantheon of high-profile conservative politicians in his bid for the Oval Office. Pence, who represented Indiana in the House of Representatives from 2001-2013 before becoming governor, previously accepted former President Donald Trump’s offer to run as his VP in 2016.

Pence announced his bid for office in a campaign video released early Wednesday.

“President Joe Biden and the radical left have weakened America at home and abroad,” Pence said in the campaign ad. “We can turn this country around. But different times call for different leadership.”

I believe in the American people, and I have faith God is not done with America yet. Together, we can bring this Country back, and the best days for the Greatest Nation on Earth are yet to come! 🇺🇸 #Pence2024 pic.twitter.com/A8EkqgCDAm

— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) June 7, 2023

“I have long believed to whom much is given much will be required. My family and I have been blessed beyond measure with opportunities to serve this nation and it would be easy to stay on the sidelines. But that’s not how I was raised. That’s why today, before God and my family, I’m announcing I’m running for president of the United States,” he added.

In the announcement, Pence focuses on the U.S. southern border, the state of the economy, and his pursuit of a balanced budget — policies that would put him squarely in the “fiscal conservative” camp that eschews anything to do with the culture war.

As the video details, Pence talks about bringing the country “back,” stating that “the best days for the greatest nation on Earth are yet to come,” which reads like a rephrasing of the Trump term, “make America great again.”

This position contrasts Pence with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, whose focus is on winning over parents and bringing America back to normality by fighting the rise of what Elon Musk refers to as the “woke mind virus.”

During his tenure as Trump’s VP, Pence led the White House Coronavirus Task Force and certified the results of the 2020 presidential election.

I believe in the American people, and I have faith God is not done with America yet. Together, we can bring this Country back, and the best days for the Greatest Nation on Earth are yet to come! 🇺🇸 #Pence2024 pic.twitter.com/A8EkqgCDAm

— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) June 7, 2023