Pence leaves presidential race: This is not my time

“It became clear to me: This is not my time,” Pence said at the annual gathering of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas. “So after much prayer and consideration, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president today.”

“We always knew this was going to be an uphill battle, but I have no regrets,” Pence told the friendly crowd, which reacted with audible surprise to the announcement and gave him several standing ovations.

Pence is the first major candidate to drop out of a race dominated by his former boss-turned-rival Donald Trump, and his struggles underscore how much Trump has transformed the party. The former vice president would normally be seen as a major challenger in any primary, but Pence has struggled to find a base of support.

Pence did not immediately endorse any of his rivals, but continued to repeat the language he used to criticize Trump.

“I call upon all my fellow Republicans here, give our country a Republican standard-bearer who will, as Lincoln said, appeal to the better angels of our nature, and not only lead us to victory, but lead our nation civilly,” he said.

Pence’s decision, more than two months before the Iowa caucuses he campaigned for, saves him from racking up more debt as well as the embarrassment of potentially failing to qualify for the third Republican primary debate, Nov. 8 in Miami.

But his withdrawal is a huge blow to a politician who bided his time as Trump’s most loyal lieutenant for years, only to be scapegoated during their final days in office when Trump became convinced that Pence somehow had the power to overturn the results of the 2020 election and keep both in office – a power that Pence did not possess.

While Pence averted a constitutional crisis by rejecting the scheme, he drew Trump’s ire, as well as the wrath of many Trump supporters, who still believed his lies about the election and see Pence as a traitor.

Meanwhile, among Trump’s critics, Pence was seen as an enabler who defended the former president at every turn and refused to repeatedly criticize even the most indefensible of Trump’s actions.

As a result, the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in August found that a majority of American adults, 57%, have an unfavorable view of Pence, while only 28% have a favorable view.

During his campaign, the former Indiana governor and congressman insisted that while he was well known to voters, he was not “well known” and intended to change that with an aggressive schedule that included numerous stops at restaurants and Pizza Ranch restaurants.

Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks to reporters on October 13, 2023 in Concord, NH.

Pence bet on Iowa, a state with a large white evangelical population that has a long history of fielding religious and socially conservative candidates such as former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania ex-Rick Santorum. Pence has often campaigned with his wife, Karen, a Christian school teacher, and has emphasized his hard-line views on issues such as abortion, which he opposes even in cases where pregnancy is unviable. He has repeatedly called on his fellow candidates to support a minimum national ban of 15 weeks and pushed for a ban on drugs used as an alternative to surgical procedures.

He tried to directly confront his actions on January 6, 2021, explaining to voters again and again that he did his constitutional duty that day, knowing full well the political consequences. It was a strategy that aides believed would help solve the problem and earn Pence the respect of most Republicans, who they believed disagreed with Trump’s actions.

But even in Iowa, Pence struggled to gain support.

He has had an uphill battle raising money, despite longstanding relationships with donors. Pence ended September with just $1.18 million in the bank and $621,000 in debt, according to his latest campaign filing. That debt has grown in the weeks since, and adding to it would take years for Pence, who is not independently wealthy, to pay it off.

The AP first reported earlier this month that people close to Pence began to feel that staying on as a candidate risks undermining his long-term standing in the party, given Trump’s commanding lead in the race for the nomination in 2024. Although they said Pence could hold out until presidential race in Iowa on Jan. 15 if he wants to — campaigning on a shoestring budget and racking up debt — he’ll have to consider how that might affect his ability to remain a leading voice in the conservative movement.

Some said the October attack by Hamas on Israel, which pushed foreign policy to the forefront of the campaign, gave Pence a renewed sense of purpose given his campaign warnings against the rising tide of isolationism in the Republican Party. Pence claimed he was the most experienced candidate in the race and condemned the “conciliatory votes” among Republicans, claiming they had emboldened groups such as Hamas.

But in the end, Pence decided he could keep talking about the issue without resuming the campaign. He chose the Las Vegas event to partially announce his decision, so he could address the topic one last time before formally leaving the race.

He is expected to remain engaged, in part through Advancing American Freedom, the conservative think tank he founded after leaving the vice presidency and envisions as an alternative to The Heritage Foundation.

Pence’s group is expected to continue to push for policies he championed in his candidacy, including pushing for more US support to defend Ukraine against a Russian invasion and proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare to rein in the debt. Such ideas were once the bread and butter of Republican establishment orthodoxy, but have fallen out of favor as the party embraced Trump’s isolationist and populist views.