In a Friday interview, former Vice President Mike Pence announced his choice to refrain from endorsing former President Donald Trump for the upcoming 2024 general election.
“It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year,” Pence told Fox News.
Following his unsuccessful presidential bid in the 2024 election, Mike Pence halted his campaign in October 2023 citing inadequate support. Pence, who served as Donald Trump’s running mate in both the 2016 and 2020 elections, expressed pride in the accomplishments of the administration.
“Look, I’m incredibly proud of the record of our administration. It was a conservative record that made America more prosperous, more secure, and saw conservatives appointed to our courts and a more peaceful world. But that being said, during my presidential campaign, I made it clear that there were profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues,” Pence said.
He condemned Trump for allegedly straying from conservative principles on issues such as reducing the national debt, opposing abortion, and confronting China and the parent company of TikTok, ByteDance.
“In each of these cases, Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years. And that’s why I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign,” Mike Pence said.
Throughout his brief and ultimately inconsequential bid for the Presidency, Pence strangely endeavored to position himself as the primary critic of his former colleague, all while campaigning on the accomplishments of the “Trump-Pence administration” (a term seldom uttered by anyone besides Pence). Despite the anticipated nomination of Trump as the Republican candidate, setting the stage for a potential rematch with Joe Biden, Pence maintains his stance of not endorsing the presumptive nominee from his own party.
Other former Republican contenders like Chris Christie and Nikki Haley have also refrained from endorsing Trump, in contrast to figures such as Tim Scott, Ron DeSantis, Doug Burgum, and Vivek Ramaswamy, who have expressed their support.
