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 told CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa 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.
CBS News chief election and campaign correspondent Robert Costa says Pence will underscore his traditional conservative and evangelical roots in Iowa as he makes an appeal there. In New Hampshire, Costa reports Pence will focus on his economic message and jobs, and talk about his record with the Trump administration. In South Carolina, Pence is expected to emphasize national security matters.
Costa reports Pence is expected to make a contrast 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 Disney situation, and foreign policy issues like Ukraine. One Pence ally told Costa that South Carolina’s Scott might be the closest political profile to Pence, but didn’t expect Pence to try to go after Scott.
