Former Vice President Mike Pence announced on Saturday that he is suspending his 2024 presidential campaign.
He made the announcement at the Republican Jewish Coalition Conference in Las Vegas, which also featured speeches from other major GOP candidates running for the White House.
“I came here to say it’s become clear to me this is not my time,” Pence said. “So, after much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today.”
Pence: I have decided to suspend my campaign for president, effective today pic.twitter.com/RGncQnqngh
— Acyn (@Acyn) October 28, 2023
He did not immediately endorse any particular candidate upon dropping out, but did urge Republicans not to follow the “siren song of populism.”
Pence, who is also a former U.S. congressman and governor of Indiana, formally announced his campaign for president in June. Under what was called “The Pence Plan,” Pence’s campaign prioritized such policies as “expanding federalism,” having the United States beat China as the world’s No. 1 energy producer, ending inflation, and “putting America’s families and values first.”
Pence qualified for the first two Republican debates, but failed to gain traction in a large field of candidates.
Roughly two and a half months until the Iowa caucuses, Pence’s national primary polling average was around 3.8 percent — placing him behind several other candidates. In Iowa, Pence sat at 2%. In addition, Pence’s campaign was struggling to raise funds with around $1.18 million cash on-hand reported by the end of September and more than $600,000 in debt.
Pence, 64, served as vice president for four years under President Donald Trump. They ran together in 2020 seeking a second term but were defeated by President Joe Biden. Though Pence has spoken positively of the Trump administration’s accomplishments, he has been at odds with Trump over the U.S. Capitol breach on January 6, 2021, and efforts to challenge the results of the 2020 election.
Trump and Pence opted to run competing campaigns in the 2024 cycle. So far, Trump is the clear front-runner, with roughly 56.9% in national polls — far above the rest of the GOP candidates.
Pence follows other candidates, including Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and former Rep. Will Hurd (R-TX), in suspending their 2024 campaigns. But Pence indicated on Saturday that he’ll remain involved in politics.
“Now I am leaving this campaign, but let me promise you: I will never leave the fight for conservative values, and I will never stop fighting to elect principled Republican leaders to every office in the land, so help me God,” Pence said.