Former Vice President Mike Pence will make an announcement on whether he will be launching a 2024 presidential bid “well before late June.”
In an interview for “Face the Nation,” Pence told CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa that anyone “serious” about seeking the Republican nomination would need to enter the contest by June.
When asked whether he is leaning towards running, Pence answered, “Well, I’m here in Iowa.”
If he were to run, Pence would be joining a field that currently includes his former boss, former President Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley — who also served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration — former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, in jockeying for the Republican presidential nomination.
Trump announced his 2024 presidential bid last year, setting the former running mates up for potential clashes on the campaign trail. Since leaving office, Pence’s rift with Trump has widened; Pence told Costa that he and Trump had a very close working relationship for four years that “didn’t end well.”
Pence said that although he once believed Trump was the “fighter” Republican voters needed in the White House, he now thinks “the American people will want to see us move forward.”
At the annual Gridiron Dinner in Washington, D.C., in March, Pence said that “history will hold Donald Trump accountable” for the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Pence earlier this month decided not to appeal a ruling requiring him to testify before a grand jury as part of a special counsel investigation into Jan. 6.
Pence also said he and his lawyers have been “transparent” and “fully cooperated” with the Justice Department and members of Congress over classified documents found at his home in January.
Pence told Costa that he has more and more people telling him there is room for his brand of “traditional conservatism,” in the crowded field of presidential contenders.
“The challenges that we’re facing in this economy, with inflation at a 40-year high, and a crisis at our border, are going to require someone who has the ability to step in on day one, and set our country back on a path towards security and prosperity,” Pence said.
