Campaign

Pence says he will decide on 2024 bid in ‘weeks and not months’

by Brett Samuels - 04/14/23 9:40 AM ET

Greg Nash
Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks at a Coolidge and the American Project luncheon to celebrate the one-hundredth anniversary of President Coolidge’s term at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, February 16, 2023.

Former Vice President Pence on Friday hinted a decision over whether he will run for president in 2024 is coming soon, telling Fox News he will make his plans known in a matter of weeks, not months.

Pence said on “Fox & Friends” that he’s been listening to voters as he makes frequent trips to early primary states like Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire and receiving encouragement about what to do next.

“I believe that you’ll have a clear idea of what the Pences decide in weeks and not months, and I promise to keep you informed of our decision,” Pence said.

National and state polls of GOP primary voters have consistently shown Pence running in a distant third place behind former President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). A recent poll out of South Carolina also showed him trailing Nikki Haley, the former governor of the state who is also running for the 2024 nomination.

Asked if he’s concerned that waiting too long to announce his candidacy might allow Trump to maintain his grip on the party, Pence said he still believes “it’s real early” in the process.

“For us and our family, it’s always not so much about competition as it is about calling,” Pence said. “Whether we feel a sense of calling to step forward and offer our services as we did here in Indiana, in Congress and as governor, and when I answered the call to run and to serve as vice president of the United States.”

“I truly do believe that different times call for different leadership, and I trust Republican voters to choose the right standard bearer to bring us to victory in 2024,” Pence added.

Trump, Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson are the only declared candidates in the 2024 GOP field, while Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) this week launched an exploratory committee. Pence, DeSantis and a handful of others are expected to decide whether to launch a bid in the coming weeks and months.

In Friday’s interview, Pence championed the work of the Trump administration in appointing conservative Supreme Court justices who helped overturn Roe v. Wade last year. The former vice president has been one of the few potential 2024 contenders to embrace recent court rulings and state laws further restricting abortion access, while other candidates largely dodge the issue.