Campaign

Pence teases angry heckler: ‘I’m going to put him down as a maybe’

by Lauren Sforza - 09/13/23 12:13 PM ET

Republican presidential candidate former Vice President Mike Pence listens to a student after a town hall campaign event, Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023, at New England College in Henniker, N.H. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Former Vice President Mike Pence poked fun at an angry heckler at a Tuesday campaign stop in Iowa.

“Get the f— out of our country and get the f— out of Iowa!” a heckler shouted at Pence at an event in Decorah, Iowa, according to a video aired by NBC.

“I’m going to put him down as a maybe,” Pence joked in response.

The GOP presidential hopeful is in Iowa ahead of his town hall with cable news network NewsNation, which is slated to begin at 9 p.m. Wednesday. The event will be moderated by the network’s chief Washington anchor, Leland Vittert, and will take place in front of a live studio audience and a remote audience of Iowa voters.

The town hall comes four months ahead of the Iowa caucuses and two weeks before the second GOP presidential debate.

A new Emerson College poll found Pence’s numbers in Iowa ticked down from May, dropping from 5 percent to 3 percent of support. Other GOP presidential candidates, including former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, also saw their numbers take a hit, while Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.) saw a bump in their numbers.