Pence Goes to New Hampshire to Support GOP, Stirring up Rumors of Running in 2024 - Report
01:53 GMT 09.12.2021 (Updated: 10:57 GMT 11.03.2024)
© AFP 2023 / DREW ANGERER
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The former vice president of Donald Trump did not leave politics altogether after departing the White House, and though he may be less active in the conservative wing than his boss, he has stubbornly remained on the list of potential GOP contenders for the 2024 election.
Former US Vice President Mike Pence visited New Hampshire on Wednesday, the state that has hosted the first presidential primary for over a century, intending to promote other Republicans running for office in next year's elections, which will likely only fuel rumors that Pence is preparing for his own presidential bid in 2024, Fox News reported.
According to the report, Pence spoke at a New Hampshire Senate Republicans fundraising event in Manchester.
He also reportedly appeared at Heritage Action's "Save Our Paychecks" event, which is critical of President Biden's domestic agenda for "hurting workers and families across the country," according to the group. Heritage Action is the political arm of the Heritage Foundation, one of the conservative movement's oldest and most powerful think tanks, which the former vice president joined in February as a distinguished visiting fellow.
The current visit to New Hampshire is reportedly Pence's second this year, as in June, he spoke at the Hillsborough County Republican Party's Lincoln-Reagan Day banquet.
Pence, who is also a former congressman and governor of Indiana, has been traveling across the country this year to assist the Republican Party's efforts in reclaiming a majority in the House and Senate, as well as gain more governorships in the 2022 elections.
In addition, the outlet noted that his travels have led him to the first four states to vote in the presidential primaries.
Earlier this year, Pence founded the political advocacy group Advancing American Freedom. And the organization's aim is to "promote the pro-freedom policies" of the Trump-Pence administration.
At the same time, while the former VP has remained quiet about his political aspirations in public, he promised "we're going to win back this country in 2024" during an address to the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual leadership gathering last month.
7 November 2021, 23:39 GMT
According to Jim Merrill, a Republican consultant, quoted in the report, Pence "is clearly coming here [to New Hampshire] to make friends and to raise his profile. The truth is people know him here, but in the wake of January 6 there is a question of what the former president thinks of him."
"I think he’s here to stake out his own identity and establish his brand to send a message that he’s very serious about 2024," Merrill noted.
Moreover, Pence reportedly spoke to the state's top news-talk radio station in the morning, saying on the "New Hampshire Today Show" that he is "absolutely determined to do my part to win back the Congress in 2022 and win back America in 2024."
Interestingly, when asked about Trump's continuous re-litigation of his election loss to Biden last year on "Good Morning New Hampshire," Pence reportedly highlighted that "elections are always about the future."
NEW-Asked whether repeated re-litigating of the '20 Election by #DonaldTrump is helpful heading into #2022elections -former VP @Mike_Pence -in NH-tells @FoxNews "elections are always about the future.. we need to focus on the historic opportunity that we have to win" #nhpolitics pic.twitter.com/D3u8oHYhhj
— Paul Steinhauser (@steinhauserNH1) December 8, 2021
The former VP also visited Iowa last month for the second time this year, made stops in South Carolina earlier this spring, which votes third in the GOP primary and caucus calendar, and Nevada last month, which votes fourth.
Ex-VP Avoids Pledging Cooperation With January 6 Committee
Speaking to journalists between the events on his packed schedule, Pence said he will "evaluate" any requests to help the special congressional committee investigating the January 6 Capitol storming in Washington, DC.
TODAY: Asked whether he'll cooperate with the special congressional committee investigating the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol, former VP @Mike_Pence - during a stop in New Hampshire - tells @AP @FoxNews that "we’ll evaluate any of those requests as they come" pic.twitter.com/IAeMqP6Zqo
— Paul Steinhauser (@steinhauserNH1) December 8, 2021
Pence oversaw congressional certification as the vice president and allegedly ignored efforts from then-President Trump to invalidate the Electoral College results. This reportedly caused a rift between Trump and his loyal right-hand man, and also alienated the radical faction of the former president's supporters.
Pence repeatedly emphasized that he did "the right thing" and carried out his "duty under the Constitution."
"January 6 was a tragic day in the life of our nation’s capital. But thanks to the efforts of law enforcement that day, we quelled the riot and reconvened the Congress, and we completed our work," he stressed on Wednesday, per Fox News.
The aforementioned select committee was established by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and the Democratic majority in the chamber to look into the origins of the deadly storming on the US Capitol by right-wing extremists and Trump supporters who aimed to prevent congressional certification of Biden's Electoral College victory in the 2020 election.
"They’ve begun an investigation, and I can tell you that going forward, we’ll do our part to make sure the American people understand the issues on that day, which for me ultimately come down to what the Constitution required," he said when discussing the investigation and whether he would cooperate. "From the founding of this nation, our founders believed that elections should be governed at the state level and that the only role the Congress would have would be to open and count the electoral votes."
Interestingly with regard to his political aspirations, Pence did not explicitly respond when asked if his decision on whether to launch a White House bid would be influenced by Trump's intentions in 2024. The former vice president would only insist that he is "completely focused on 2022."
"And come 2023, we’ll do as our family has always done. We’ll reflect and pray and consider where we might next serve," he added.
Pence is far from the only GOP politician reported to be considering a run for president in the next election. Trump has also flirted with the idea of running again for president again in 2024.
