Former Vice President Mike Pence to Launch Campaign for White House Within 2 Weeks  (Exclusive)

Former Vice President Mike Pence is set to launch his run for the White House against his old boss, former President Donald Trump, within the coming two weeks, four sources familiar with the planning told The Messenger. 

The Georgia Republican Party may have tipped Pence’s hand Wednesday in an email explaining he could no longer deliver the keynote address at a June 9th event. Pence would make “an announcement regarding his future plans” at a televised town hall, the email said. The Georgia GOP did not specify which town hall, but Pence is scheduled to headline a CNN town hall in Des Moines, Iowa on June 7, his 64th birthday. 

Four Republicans familiar with the plans say Pence and his team started ramping up their outreach two weeks ago, telling supporters that the launch was imminent and would take place in mid-June.

Pence spokesmen and advisers did not return multiple calls for comment from The Messenger on Wednesday morning. 

The launch marks a historic run by the two men at the center, yet opposite sides, of the January 6 insurrection. The former vice president, who rioters came within 40 feet of confronting in the Capitol that day as other Trump faithfuls chanted “Hang Mike Pence,” has been reticent to comment on the attack in public, yet has been cooperating to various degrees with investigators probing Trump’s responsibility for the attack. 

Trump, whose 2:24 p.m. tweet January 6th sent rioters into a fury focused on the vice president for not overturning the election results, has himself been reticent to talk about his relationship with his former second in command, only offering varied niceties about Pence while training his anger elsewhere. 

To win, Pence is expected to camp out in Iowa, which will host its determinative caucus at the start of 2024 and is filled with college-educated evangelicals — a critical set of support for Pence. He has employed veteran Iowa Republican operative Chip Saltsman to direct much of that effort and has leaned on his connections in the Christian right to win valuable stage-time addressing their audience — typically friendly crowds. 

The first hurdle Pence will face in taking on his old boss and the rest of the sprawling Republican field will be winning a spot on the debate stage in Milwaukee this coming August — candidates must show they’ve raised contributions from at least 40,000 separate donors and stand at least 1 percent support among voters in national polls. 

Pence has had little trouble maintaining his presence in the field but may struggle to clear the 40,000-donor bar set by the Republican National Committee as a stopgap measure to keep the field as narrow as possible. 

To that end, Pence has been reaching out recently to old friends and longtime loyalists to build his team. His top aide has been in Washington interviewing Republicans and conservatives for campaign jobs. He also has tasked one of his former chiefs of staff with manning a third fundraising committee, separate from his super PAC and official campaign team. 

Indiana Roots

Pence caught the politics bug as a young boy in Columbus, Indiana, a modest city with inspiring architecture tucked between Indianapolis and the Ohio River — and his family grew wealthy working hard in the oil industry and gas station business there. 

Writing in his memoir released last year, Pence recounted struggling to win over the support of other workers when he started a job at his father’s gas station. His father told him to put his head down, do the work, and the rest will come to him.

And that has been a theme through his entire life. From his high school days to January 6th and his run-up to this campaign launch, Pence has worked in a lowkey but purposeful manner. 

His favorite verse, Jeremiah 29:11, has long been framed above his mantle and is often interpreted as a message from God to the exiled Jews in Persia to remain faithful and patient and they will be delivered back to Israel. And his central argument for why he couldn’t overturn the 2020 election loss is built on exhaustive legal research he directed his staff to compile -- and still forms the center of his argument today. 

But that determination may not be enough to win the Republican nomination at a time when the party is split between Trump loyalists who feel Pence is a traitor and a mix of conservatives and supporters of the old party establishment looking to move on from the last eight years. 

Squeezed in there is a small sliver of old-line conservatives and pro-life activists with deep ties in the Christian Right movement who see one of their own finally running for office. 

Tom LoBianco is the author of Piety & Power: Mike Pence and the Taking of the White House.