Former Vice President Mike Pence will launch his presidential campaign next week in Des Moines, Iowa, multiple sources tell CBS News.
Pence is expected to launch his 2024 bid with a speech and campaign video on Wednesday, June 7. NBC News first reported the specific timing and location of Pence’s expected announcement.
The former vice president, in announcing next week, will meet what he views as a deadline for potential candidates. He had said in April on “Face the Nation,” that anyone “serious” about seeking the Republican nomination would need to enter the contest by June.
Pence also said in that interview that more and more people have been telling him there is room for his brand of “traditional conservatism” in the growing field of presidential contenders.
The former vice president enters a growing GOP field that already includes his old running mate — former President Donald Trump — as well as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott and others.
A super PAC has formed to support a Pence presidential run, as CBS News previously reported. The PAC, “Committed to America,” is filled with former aides to Governors Brian Kemp of Georgia and Larry Hogan, the former governor of Maryland. Like Pence, who refused to reject President Biden’s electoral college victory on Jan. 6, 2021, both governors are Republicans who have clashed with Trump in recent years.
Iowa is a top priority for the emerging Pence campaign, and the former vice president plans to visit the Hawkeye State almost weekly until the Iowa caucuses, according to GOP sources. He is expected to make a considerable effort to appeal to evangelical voters, a crucial voting bloc in the state, and a bloc Pence can appeal to given his own identity as an evangelical Christian.
On the campaign trail, Pence plans to tailor his message in some of the early-voting states. In Iowa, he’ll be underscoring his traditional conservative and evangelical roots. In New Hampshire, he’ll focus on his economic message and jobs and talk about his record with the Trump administration. And in South Carolina, Pence is expected to emphasize national security matters.
Pence is expected to try to portray the contrast he presents with Trump and DeSantis. For Trump, Pence will likely highlight Trump’s record on long-term federal spending, and programs like Medicare and Social Security. On DeSantis, Pence is expected to bring up the Florida governor’s antipathy with Disney, and his foreign policy stance on Ukraine. One Pence ally suggested that politically, South Carolina’s Tim Scott might be the closest political profile to Pence, but did not expect Pence to be critical of Scott on the trail.
