Pence ‘getting closer’ to a 2024 decision

Former Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday said he’s getting “closer to a decision” on whether to run for president in 2024.

Pence told Sean Hannity on Fox News that he and his wife, Karen Pence, have been praying about whether to enter the presidential race, drawing applause from a live studio audience.

“We’re getting closer to a decision,” he said, adding “We’ve gotten a lot of encouragement around the country.”

“I think this country is in a lot of trouble… But the truth of the matter is we have to produce leadership in this country that will take our country back to the policies that left us stronger and more prosperous in the Trump-Pence years,” Pence continued. “And if we can play a part in that, we will.”

The former Indiana governor has made many of the moves of a would-be presidential candidate in recent months, releasing a memoir and traveling to early primary states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

The former vice president has also staked out his own lane on a handful of issues compared to GOP rivals. He has been outspoken that the U.S. should continue its support for Ukraine while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and former President Donald Trump suggested it was not in the national interest to do so. Trump is a declared 2024 candidate, while DeSantis is expected to enter the race this spring.

Pence has been willing to criticize his old boss by name for his conduct around the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the Capitol where other candidates have not, though he is fighting a subpoena for his testimony on Trump’s actions around that day.

And the former vice president has called for reforms to Social Security and Medicare, where Trump has said those programs should remain untouched despite concerns about their solvency.

Still, Pence trails Trump and DeSantis by a wide margin in most polls of a hypothetical GOP primary, and strategists have questioned whether he can breakthrough in a party that has become focused largely on personality over policy.