Former US Vice President Mike Pence is rumoured to be eyeing a presidential run in 2024 after he was booked at two Republican speaking events in New Hampshire.
Fox News reported on Sunday that Pence, who presided over US President Joe Biden's congressional confirmation on January 6, will give the keynote address at a fundraiser for New Hampshire Senate Republicans in the town of Manchester on December 8.
He will also appear at an anti-tax increase event organised by conservative PAC Heritage Action in the Granite State.
The latest bookings have prompted media speculation that the hard-line neoconservative hawk may be plotting a run against former US President Donald Trump for the party's candidacy in the 2024 presidential election cycle.
New Hampshire is a key state in the US election cycle as it is the first to hold a primary for a GOP presidential candidate.
Pence's chances of winning the Republican nomination look slim, however, with recent polls pegging him a distant third behind Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Even if Trump stays out of the race, Pence would still trail DeSantis and the former president's son, Donald Trump Jr.
The many woes afflicting the Biden-Harris administration have boosted Trump's polling against both.
On Saturday, Biden allies scrambled to quell rumours he would stand aside for Vice President Kamala Harris to run in his place.
Harris is a relative political novice who served three years as a junior senator for California before Biden picked her as his running-mate. Her own Democratic presidential nomination campaign never got off the ground and she bowed out before the first primary in 2020, citing lack of donations.
Polls show Harris is less popular among registered Democrats than either Biden or Michelle Obama, the wife of former US President Barack Obama.