Former Vice President Mike Pence will be heading to the early-voting primary state of South Carolina next week, his advisers told CBS News Thursday.
He’ll be making two stops in the Palmetto State, one in Rock Hill and one in Blythewood, which is near the State capitol of Columbia.
Pence has said he will not announce a decision on whether to pursue the presidency until some time next year, but he has been laying the groundwork for a possible bid, publishing a memoir in November about his time in the White House, campaigning for Republicans in the recent midterm elections and visiting several of the states that vote early in the presidential primary process.
In a recent interview with Margaret Brennan on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” asked Pence whether there was a danger in former President Donald Trump being president again — in November Trump became the first major declared GOP presidential candidate for 2024. Pence responded that he expected “we’ll have better choices.”
Mark J. Terrill / AP
The former vice president will also be traveling to another early state on the presidential primary calendar when he goes to New Hampshire on Dec. 12. A source close to Pence also said to expect him to pay more visits to Iowa, the first state to weigh in on presidential candidates during the primaries and caucuses.
Pence, a born-again Christian, has also been solidifying ties with politically-active evangelical groups in the early GOP primary states like Iowa and South Carolina ahead of a potential run.
His former chief of staff Marc Short told CBS News on Thursday that Pence will have book signings in New Hampshire and South Carolina in the coming weeks, and the former vice president doesn’t need to adhere to an “artificial timeline” to decide about a potential run.
“He and his family will gather over the Christmas holiday and talk about the future that they see and where they think they can be called to serve the American people,” Short said.
Caitlin Huey-Burns contributed reporting.
