Mike Pence’s 2024 Gamble

He’s not convinced the Republican Party is as Trumpified as conventional wisdom suggests.

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Former Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence speak to guests during a campaign event in Iowa on July 6, 2023. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

SIOUX CITY, Iowa—Don’t look now, but at the moment former Vice President Mike Pence is becoming the most interesting candidate for president. 

It’s understandable if that’s hard to fathom. Donald Trump has far more star power than his former running mate, along with leads in every national and early state primary poll. Those same polls show Gov. Ron DeSantis in a far better position to challenge Trump. And rivals like former Gov. Chris Christie and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy are doing a better job grabbing media attention than Pence, who has never been known for his charisma. 

Yet Pence is doing something unusual, even radical, within the 2024 GOP field: He’s running as a movement conservative, a traditional Republican, and an experienced politician in a party whose recent history suggests little appetite for any of that. But the Pence campaign has challenged the conventional wisdom: What if the party isn’t really all that enthralled by Trump and Trumpism?

“I’m running because the things that I’ve always been about, the things that our administration was about, I’m going to continue to be about,” Pence tells The Dispatch in Sioux City. “American leadership in the world, fiscal responsibility and reform, the right to life. And frankly, the [former] president is walking away from those things overtly, and others are walking away from it. And I’m going to continue to stand on the conservative ideas and values that I’ve always stood on, and give Republican voters a choice.”

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  1. Hartzlk

    Pence loses me when he keeps giving credit to Trump where credit is not due. It's not gracious or giving the benefit of the doubt. It's either willful ignorance or a technique to avoid the weak look of backtracking a position.

    He might get me back if he is the biggest name at the primaries with a posture towards Ukraine that I like. My complaints about Pence are damaging, but not disqualifying. If both Hurd and Pence are in the primaries and I was casting a vote today, I don't know how I would vote. I do know I would be sad to not have some form of ranked choice voting.

    I haven't given Christie a close enough look to be fair, but the exposure I've had so far has been underwhelming.

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    Honest Ape

    "For those opposed to Trump, there’s a discouraging symbol along U.S. 169 not far outside of Boone, where Pence had such a warm reception among small business owners. The very large sign clearly once read, “Trump-Pence 2020.” But Pence’s name has been deliberately and completely cut out, exposing the brown wooden fence underneath."

    Rather than it being a discouraging symbol, I look at it as a positive for Pence. He's now seen as his own man, no longer tethered to The Donald while Trump is stuck in the morass of the past that he created.

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    1. Dan P.

      I've seen a few yard signs, bumper stickers, etc. in my area like that. It just comes off as completely petty, even though I'm sure the MAGAites think it's really making a statement.

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    2. Ufodaddy

      Not a fan of the guy, but I hope he has plenty of security around him...

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  3. Pbeaupre3141

    I think Mike Pence misunderstands what the Trump-Pence administration was.

    He's putting a spit-shine on a pair of Crocs that should be thrown out.

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  4. R. James

    Pence's problem is not so much that the party is completely Trumpkin, it's that even the non-Trumpkin Republican primary voter doesn't want Pence as President.

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      Bill Dyer (aka Beldar)

      That's it in a sentence.

      Mike Pence could still be very useful. He could do a magnificent concession speech before the Iowa caucuses that really tells the truth and unloads on Trump using every bit of first-hand dirt he was exposed to as part of a member of the Trump Administration. That would be a magnificent act of redemption, to complement and complete his one great deed in life (jumping the extremely low bar of not collaborating in a coup attempt to overthrow the Constitution).

      But he's a man still bathed in slime from the man he joyfully chose to run for office with, twice. Other than as a sincere and vocal penitent seeking public redemption after full confession and genuine contrition, he has no further role in American public life.

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    Spider Rico

    Pence’s path to the nomination is unclear because it doesn’t exist. Welcome to 2016 Part II: Return of the Donald.

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  6. Wburleson23

    Unfortunately, I think Pence is wrong here. This MAGA crap is what the most ardent GOP primary voters want. They've repeatedly chosen Trump and his ilk over sane, electable Republicans, election results be damned. I've tried and tried to find another explanation but I just can't. Republican primary voters are the problem. And I don't know what we do about that.

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      Jeff Younger

      It is extremely frustrating. These people simply don’t care about governing as a majority party. They’re emotional toddlers who will go to their graves kicking and screaming in full tantrum mode. Unfortunately, not enough them are going to be going to their graves before the primary voting starts. I just hope somebody-ANYBODY - not named Trump can win Iowa and New Hampshire and derail the Trump train. If these idiots are able to garner the nomination for Fat Donnie One Term, we will be looking at a second Biden term, a Democrat-controlled House & Senate, and a possible Harris presidency sometime before 2029.

      God help us all. The only thing that might be worse, for Republicans, America, or the world is Fat Donnie Two Terms.

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  7. Jrleek

    I like a lot about Pence. I like that he actually seems to care about the 10th amendment, and I like that he wants to increase support to Ukraine. Currently he's my #2 pick in the primary.

    But like Chris Christie, I can't see him actually clinching it. Trumpers hate his "betrayal," and anti-Trumpers dislike his long association with Orange-T. It doesn't leave a lot of room.

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      Jeff Younger

      Good point. And while he’s far more socially conservative than I, the man exudes competence and a calm, steady demeanor that has been lacking in the Oval Office for a very long time. As a Reagan Republican, I’m glad to see someone still honoring the greatest Republican POTUS of my lifetime, who made conservatism cool.

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    TJ

    I’m an Iowan (currently) and fully onboard the Pence train…Choo! Choo!

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    Mattjabour

    Yeah, good luck with that one, Mikey. If people wanted a classic conservative for president, they could do better than Trump's former enabler.

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    Tele

    Having read Pence’s book…I’m just not sure.

    The pre January 6th parts with Trump read like someone who believes there was a pony somewhere.

    Not only can’t I figure out if he really thought there was pony, or was just stating the best possible spin.

    I also can’t decide which I’d prefer.

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