Trump on Pence’s 2024 presidential race exit: ‘He should endorse me’

Former President Trump said his former vice president should endorse him during a Saturday rally.

“People are leaving now and they’re all endorsing me,” Trump said at an event in Las Vegas, referring to GOP candidates exiting the 2024 presidential race. “I don’t know about Mike Pence. He should endorse me. You know why? Because I had a great, successful presidency and he was the vice president.”

Pence was Trump’s former running mate for both his 2016 and 2020 campaigns and strongly stood by the former president throughout the majority of his four-year term. However, when Pence refused to help overturn the 2020 election for his former boss, their relationship soured.

“But people in politics can be very disloyal,” Trump continued following his comments about Pence.

Pence announced he was dropping out of the 2024 GOP presidential primary race Saturday.

“It’s become clear to me it’s not my time,” Pence said during a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition Conference. “I’ve decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today.”

“To the American people, I say: this is not my time, but it is still your time,” he added.

Pence began his presidential bid in June, becoming one of many Republicans who would vie for the presidency alongside the current front-runner-by-far Trump. He’s noted his pride in relation to his time in the Trump-Pence administration in spite of current criticism against his former boss. 

“My family and I have been blessed beyond measure with opportunities to serve this nation. And it would be easy to stay on the sidelines. But that’s not how I was raised,” Pence said in his kickoff video.   

Some of his former 2024 Republican rivals for the presidency rallied behind Pence in the wake of him exiting the race. 

“Vice President Mike Pence is a principled man of faith who has worked tirelessly to advance the conservative cause,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Casey and I appreciate Mike and Karen for their willingness to put themselves forward in this campaign and wish the Pence family well in their next steps.”