Pence Suspends Presidential Campaign
On Saturday, former Vice President Mike Pence finally announced the end of his 2024 presidential campaign after consistently polling far below the top candidates.
Pence announced that he was suspending his campaign during a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition Conference in Las Vegas, where he appeared alongside several other GOP candidates running for president.
“I came here to say it’s become clear to me this is not my time,” the former vice president said. “So, after much prayer and deliberation. I have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today.”
Pence did not immediately endorse any other presidential candidate. However, he did make sure to push establishment talking points in his announcement, urging Republicans not to follow the “siren song of populism” — a movement that focuses on appealing to ordinary Americans whose concerns are disregarded by the establishment elite.
The former vice president’s campaign began in June of this year, but he never was able to garner enough support to become a viable candidate — with his polling average being only around 3.5%, according to RealClearPolitics data from earlier this month. While he was able to qualify for the first two Republican debates, Pence was far behind former President Donald Trump in the polls — who is the clear frontrunner at 59%.
Pence centered his campaign around what he called “The Pence Plan,” which focused on policies such as “expanding federalism,” ending inflation and “putting America’s families and values first.”
The former vice president lost a significant amount of support among Republican voters for betraying Trump in several ways. While he has spoken positively about the accomplishments under the Trump administration, he has repeatedly attacked the former president in the media.
Pence also lost a lot of support after a botched answer during a leadership summit with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, where he stated that America is “not my concern.” Though Pence attempted to clarify his comment immediately afterward, the damage was done — with the clip going viral on social media and many pointing out that the pro-war candidate appeared to care more about Ukraine than America.
At the conclusion of his Saturday speech, Pence vowed to continue fighting for “conservative values” and working to elect “principled Republican leaders.”
“Now I am leaving this campaign, but let me promise you: I will never leave the fight for conservative values, and I will never stop fighting to elect principled Republican leaders to every office in the land, so help me God,” he said.
