The former Vice-President, Mike Pence, has formally launched his bid for the White House.
He will contest against Donald Trump to be the Republican Party’s flag bearer for the presidency.
Pence has filed the paperwork to enter the race but will officially launch his campaign with an event in Des Moines, Iowa.
Pence, who has switched between criticizing and supporting Trump since he left office, is expected to pitch himself as the candidate of traditional conservatives and evangelicals in the race.
He is expected to campaign heavily in Iowa, banking on town halls and retail stops, in a state where his strong opposition to issues like abortion, LGBT+ rights and his Reaganesque economics could appeal to voters. Also, he will try to pitch himself and his personality as different from Trump.
Pence supported Trump as Vice-President but did not back the former president’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, which was won by Joe Biden.
Trump remains the favourite to win the Republican nomination to challenge Joe Biden in 2024, despite the recent verdict of sexual assault and while still facing a litany of outstanding legal issues which include allegations of falsifying business records, allegations of improperly keeping classified documents and investigations into the Capitol Attack on January 6th and claims over Georgia election tampering.
As things stand, the Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, who has forged a reputation as a “culture warrior” railing against the “woke mind virus”, is Trump’s biggest rival.
But there is a possibility that Pence entering the field could divide the anti-Trump Republican vote. According to The New York Times, Ryan Tyson, DeSantis’ senior adviser, told a private briefing of campaign donors recently that he believed the Republican electorate was divided into three: 35 percent were “only Trump” voters, 20 percent were “never Trump” voters, and the remaining 45 percent were up for grabs,
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