Mike Pence Breaks Public Silence, Seems to Eye 2024 Presidential Race

Misbar looked into Mike Pence's first public appearance since exiting the White House in January and discerned that it appears that he is taking steps towards running for president in 2024.

The former governor of Indiana and vice president has largely been silent since the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. He was likewise absent from CPAC 2021, but that isn't to say he hasn't been active during this time. According to a March 30 story in the Chicago Tribune, Pence has been reshuffling his team and looking to "[maintain] influence, [pay] the bills and [lay] the groundwork for an expected presidential run." He's also been working with the Heritage Foundation, joined the Young America's Foundation, and written Op-Eds that continue to perpetuate what many see as some of the falsehoods surrounding the 2020 election. 

And like many presidential hopefuls before him, Pence is allegedly penning a book. Authorship doesn't necessarily presage a run for the Oval Office, but many candidates use the medium as "an opportunity to get out there and talk about your vision and your record," said Michael Steel.

More telling, though, is that Pence has launched his own conservative political advocacy group, Advancing American Freedom, that seeks to "merge traditional Conservative values with the Make America Great Again policy agenda that propelled the Nation to new economic heights." A number of well-known conservative players have endorsed Pence and joined his advocacy group – most notably the former Senior Counselor to President Trump, Kellyanne Conway. 

Furthermore, CNBC reported that Pence, as well as several other prominent conservatives, including Governor of Florida Ron DeSantis and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, are speaking at a private donor meeting in Texas (scheduled for May 7) being "organized at least in part by Karl Rove." Pence also has an active speaking schedule lined up for the rest of the year. 

As noted above, South Carolina is an early voting state, and hopefuls from both parties use it as a testing ground for their ideas. However, the Biden presidency is barely 100 days old and former President Donald Trump hasn't ruled out whether or not he will run again. Other members of the Republican party currently poll higher than Pence (especially Ron DeSantis, who Trump has called a future leader of the party). Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley indicated that "she would stand down if Trump opted to run again." 

Currently, Pence is touting his relationship with Trump and their record while in office, but the former president and as many of his voters continue to blame Pence for validating the election results for President Biden. 

So, while Pence is making the telltale moves to stay relevant and hitting the metrics that other hopefuls have hit, it is too early to determine if he will actually run, let alone be nominated. 

Since it appears that Pence is eyeing a presidential run, but since he has not publicly committed to it yet, we rate this claim as commotion.