Global Courant
DES MOINES, Iowa — Former Vice President Mike Pence, who ratified the 2020 election results under threat from supporters of then-President Donald Trump, kicked off Wednesday with a bid for the Oval Office.
On his 64th birthday, Pence, the former Indiana governor and six-time congressman, was released a launch video whacking on President Joe Biden by name and Trump by implication.
“President Joe Biden and the radical left have weakened America at home and abroad,” Pence says in a self-narrated 2½ minute montage from Americana. “We can turn this country around. But different times call for different leadership.”
Turning more squarely to the often hateful Trump, Pence added, “Today our party and country need a leader who, as Lincoln said, will call upon the better angels of our nature.”
In the video, titled “Best Days”, Pence claims that the country is in bad shape, but that the “best days” are ahead.
He will address supporters in Des Moines later today.
One of three candidates entering the GOP primary field this week — former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie jumped in Tuesday and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum is expected to announce Wednesday — Pence sees Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucus as fertile ground for his brand of traditional and faith-based conservatism.
There is little doubt that he faces an uphill battle to compete for the party’s nomination, with Trump holding a GOP voter majority in most national polls and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis a clear second place. with 22.4% in the RealClearPolitics average of recent surveys.
Pence ranks fourth, behind Trump, DeSantis and Nikki Haley, the former US ambassador to the UN, with less than 4% in the RealClearPolitics average.
But numbers aside, a Pence comeback would require an epic reversal of the political dynamics within the GOP.
Less than three years ago, Pence hid when a Trump-incited mob ransacked the Capitol. Some in the crowd, angry at his refusal to block certification of the 2020 Trump-Pence ticket defeat, chanted, “Hang Mike Pence!”
It was a dramatic twist for a loyal partisan who had spent his years in the vice presidency nodding along Trump’s side. At times, Pence’s support was crucial to Trump, especially when they first ran together in 2016.
At the time, some conservatives — especially evangelical Christians — were wary that Trump would stray from the Republican base. Others were shocked by his personal behavior, including the release of an “Access Hollywood” tape of Trump boasting about the ease with which he could sexually assault women with impunity.
Pence, who tried to curtail abortion And gay rights in Congress and as governor of Indiana, acted as a major validator for Trump.
Now, like the other Republicans in the race, he faces the daunting challenge of cutting off Trump’s support and consolidating the universe of GOP voters who have antipathy toward Trump or are simply open to another candidate.
And while Pence has near-universal name recognition among voters, which is an advantage for most candidates, his low poll ratings suggest his challenge is complicated by the fact that voters’ opinions of him have already been formed.
“Mike Pence is a true conservative and a great public servant,” said Dan Eberhart, a GOP donor who supports DeSantis. “He just doesn’t have the support among Republicans he needs to be competitive.”
Pence campaign officials are well aware that they need to review the public narrative about him. They hope they can reintroduce him, not as Trump’s vice president or as the man who stood between the mob and the Constitution, but as the conservative leader he was in Congress and in Indiana.
Pence, an advocate for President George W. Bush’s wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, has been steadfast in his support for U.S. aid to Ukraine as Trump and DeSantis questioned the wisdom of that mission.
He has also distinguished himself from the frontrunners by advocating cuts to Social Security and Medicare, a policy stance popular with economic conservatives but anathema to more populist Republicans.
As a member of the House, Pence opposed Bush as the leader of a rebel group that opposed his introduction of a prescription drug program for Medicare. He was also a leading advocate for conservative faction budgets dying on arrival that would have slashed entitlement programs.
On abortion, an issue that has broken the GOP since the Supreme Court overturned federal protections for the procedure last year, Pence has called for a national ban. Trump, who appointed three of the judges who voted in the majority, has not stopped there. DeSantis, who recently signed a six-week ban in Florida, has avoided questioning whether he would sign a measure banning abortion nationwide.
Pence’s legacy Republican platform — strong national defense, budget cuts, and conservative social policies — has allowed allies to see a glimmer of hope in Iowa, which is why he’s launching his campaign there.
“We see this race as absolutely wide open, and Iowa will really solidify itself as the central player,” a person familiar with Pence’s plans said last week. “It’s a place that values Mike Pence’s principles — traditional conservative principles — deep-rooted faith and unusual character.”
