He’s done a very good job of connecting with what I would say is the bread and butter of the Republican primary electorate - hitting the right cities, going to the right events, meeting the right kind of voters that he would need to be successful if and when he decides to run for president.”Īt a fundraising gala for the Carolina Pregnancy Center in Spartanburg last week, he drew a crowd of approximately 2,000 people.
“He’s building a groundswell of grassroots support here,” Kimbrell, a former Christian talk radio host, said. Josh Kimbrell of deep-red Spartanburg County to help him navigate the state’s politics. His first post-vice presidency event was at the Palmetto Family Council, the Columbia-based conservative nonprofit. Pence is also lavishing attention on South Carolina, the “First in The South” presidential primary state packed with his brand of rock-ribbed social conservatives. “I mean, the tax cuts, the Supreme Court justices, that really bodes well for him.” Randy Feenstra, a key caucus power broker ahead of 2024 who joined Pence in serving breakfast at Iowa’s 4th District Convention in late April. “He’s 100% pro-life, and people love all the things he’d done through the Trump administration,” said Iowa freshman Rep. Last month, he sold out and keynoted a Story County Republican Party fundraiser on an Iowa swing.įormer Vice President Mike Pence mingles with Republican activists Roger and Connie Underwood at a Story County Republican fundraiser in Ames, Iowa, on April 23, 2022. Daegan Page.īy month’s end, Pence will have visited the early primary states of Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire at least three times each since leaving office. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), he visited the family of Cpl. And while he was doing an Omaha fundraiser for Rep.
He spoke at the Indiana funeral of one of the Marines slain in the Afghanistan exit last year, Cpl. He has undertaken quiet moments that are more the province of a head of state. Pence has executed this high wire political comeback against a backdrop of presidential-like photo-ops on the Ukrainian border and a stop at a crisis pregnancy mobile ultrasound unit last week. No 2024 GOPer, after all, is closer to Trump’s accomplishments while in office. If the latter, Pence’s fidelity to Trump’s record and his decades of toiling in the trenches of the culture wars could pay off. If the former, Pence’s relaunch is likely doomed. Pence’s campaign-in-waiting is perhaps the strongest test case of whether Trump’s appeal with his base is purely personality or policy-driven, all id or also ideas-based. “Pence is doing everything he can to position himself if there’s an opening in 2024,” said Alex Conant, a Republican strategist and former adviser to Marco Rubio’s 2016 and Tim Pawlenty’s 2012 presidential campaigns. Booing crowds have been replaced by cheering, swollen audiences of social conservatives. Now, fresh off of warmly received appearances in the early GOP presidential primary voting states of South Carolina and Iowa, and ahead of scheduled stops in New Hampshire and North Carolina later this month, Pence is winning back political ground.
If this becomes a big issue, a defining issue when it comes to 2024, that will be in his wheelhouse.” Wade overturned, he has been a champion of life,” said Bob Vander Plaats, president and CEO of The Family Leader, a conservative Christian parent organization for the Iowa Family Policy Center. “As we get into the sanctity of life issue and the potential of having Roe. “The issue set feels like it could be coming to him a little bit because he’s good on the culture war stuff,” said David Kochel, a veteran Iowa Republican strategist who said he heard positive reviews of Pence’s April visit to the state. Ron DeSantis warred with Disney, Pence was attacking the entertainment company as far back as 1999 in an op-ed criticizing the film “Mulan.” Long before Republicans like Florida Gov. Brian Kemp on the eve of his GOP primary, a direct challenge to Trump’s endorsement of Kemp challenger David Perdue.Īnd he’s embraced familiar terrain on the culture wars, launching his own so-called freedom agenda ahead of the midterms, focusing on issues like parental choice in the classroom. Next week, he’ll cross Trump by holding a rally with Georgia Gov. He is finding purposeful ways to contrast with Trump on issues ranging from highlighting his own decadeslong record of anti-abortion advocacy to calling for a muscular response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Wade, Pence has moved to channel a newly simpatico GOP base. Since POLITICO reported on the Supreme Court’s draft opinion overturning Roe v.
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