Former vice president Mike Pence will launch his 2024 presidential bid on June 7, finally facing off with his former boss for the GOP nomination after years of rivalry.
The announcement will feature a campaign video and kickoff speech in Des Moines, Iowa, a person with knowledge of the plans told NBC News. Pence said many weeks ago that 2024 contenders should declare their candidacies by early June.
“We view this race as absolutely wide open, and Iowa is really going to solidify itself as the pivotal player,” the source told the outlet. “It’s a place that values Mike Pence’s principles — traditional conservative principles — deep-rooted faith and uncommon character.”
Pence will invest significant time campaigning in Iowa before the caucuses, the source said, pitching his platform at town halls, stopping by restaurants to chat with residents, and attending other in-person events.
First a six-term congressman then the governor of Indiana, Pence, and his political reputation, is now closely tied to former president Trump. The aftermath of the 2020 election, when Trump concocted a narrative of widespread voter fraud and blamed Pence for not securing him a second term, left many Republican voters divided. A large segment of the die-hard Trump base still resents Pence for not overturning the results of the race, while another segment distrusts Pence for having served as Trump’s vice president for four preceding years.
Pence has openly criticized Trump for his inflammatory actions and comments leading up to the January 6 riot, when a mob of the former president’s supporters stormed the Capitol to disrupt the certification of the election for Joe Biden. In March, Pence said Trump’s “reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day.” In remarks at the Gridiron Club Dinner in Washington, D.C. in March, Pence said that “history will hold Donald Trump accountable.”
Still, Pence stood up for principle when Trump was targeted by progressive Manhattan prosecutor Alvin Bragg in a probe sparked by allegations that the former president made hush-money payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. In March, a Manhattan grand jury voted to indict Trump, making him the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges. Pence called the prosecution of Trump an “outrage” while speaking with National Review editor Rich Lowry at the National Review Institute’s Ideas Summit.
The field of GOP presidential candidates has been steadily expanding, with former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum expected to throw their hats into the ring soon. Trump, who joined the race a while ago, has been preoccupied with now-candidate Ron DeSantis, considered his most formidable competitor, who has so far been polling strong.
“What better place to do your announcement than a place that’s going to be so pivotal in the future of the nation,” the source said of the fact that Pence’s launch location is Iowa, which hosts the first-in-the-nation caucus for the GOP nomination process. “It certainly conveys the importance that we’re placing on the state.”