Pence presents his bid for the White House without mentioning Trump

Mike PenceVice President of the United States with Donald Trump, This Wednesday, he officially presented his candidacy for the Republican primaries. The Indiana politician made his announcement publicly in a video on his birthday, after months of laying the groundwork for his campaign.

In the video, Pence assures that the best days of the USA are yet to come. But for that, he confirms, Joe Biden and the “radical left” that “weakened the USA at home and abroad” remain. The ad also highlights the former vice president’s political experience from his election to the House of Representatives and his tenure as governor of Indiana to his time in the White House alongside Trump, who is never mentioned in the video.

But Trump was there. And in 2016, it was the presence of Pence as vice president on the magnate’s ballot that allowed access to evangelical votes, as well as to part of the more moderate conservatism of the Republican Party. It is possible, namely, that without Pence’s support, Trump would never have reached the White House.

Today, the two face each other in rival primaries, almost two years after their joint mandate ended in tragedy. During their tenure, Pence’s loyalty to Trump motivated his defense of the millionaire despite all the scandals that plagued his presidency. A loyalty that remained impeccable until the last moment, when Trump, with the full intention of staying in power, ordered him not to certify the results of the 2020 election that gave victory to Joe Biden. For Pence, institutional responsibility ultimately prevailed. He refused, provoking a crowd of Trump supporters, who eventually marched through the halls of the Capitol chanting that they wanted to “hang Mike Pence.”

Pence, despite spending several months on the campaign trail — so far in 2023 he has visited several states that open the Republican election calendar — is trailing in the polls. Thus, she would take fourth place, behind the strongest rivals of Trump and Ron DeSantis, and Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina. If he wants to win, in addition to rallying the votes of moderate conservatives, Pence will have to convince a part of the Trumpist electorate, which will likely limit his ability to attack the millionaire.

On the other hand, this Wednesday, Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, also declared himself a candidate for the Republican race. Burgum, a self-made millionaire in softwareis in his second term in his home state after his 2020 re-election campaign won more than three-quarters of the North Dakota vote.