In Major Speech, Pence Urges GOP to Ditch Trump's Populism
TimeSep 03, 2023
Mike Pence Drops out of 2024 Presidential Race
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Image copyright: Ethan Miller/Getty Images News via Getty Images
The Facts
Former vice president Mike Pence withdrew from the 2024 Republican Party presidential nomination race on Saturday, stating "this is not my time," to the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas.
Pence said he had intended to run for president because he believed the US "is in a lot of trouble," but after "much prayer and deliberation," he had decided to suspend his campaign.
The Spin
Democratic narrative
Mike Pence — a key witness for federal prosecutors against Donald Trump in his trial about the events surrounding Jan. 6, 2021 — has paid the price for not bending the knee to Donald Trump time and again. His decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race underscores how tricky the path is to topple the former president, who is currently dominating the GOP polling. Pence was always a non-starter in the GOP race and now the field of "non-Trumpers" shrinks even more.
Pro-Trump narrative
With Trump polling so strongly in the face of weaponized legal action against him, Pence's hopes of rebooting his career were doomed. Despite years of experience in Washington, he struggled to gain traction or raise money to fund his anemic campaign as Republican voters abandoned him. Pence never had a chance against the former president, who has built one of the biggest primary leads in US electoral history.
