Mike Pence campaigns, takes in Iowa State Fair

DES MOINES — Former Vice President Mike Pence offered scant details on his plans for 2024 at the Iowa State Fair, a trip that followed a talk in New Hampshire and fanned speculation of a presidential run.

Pence rebuffed questions about any 2024 ambitions, saying his reason for coming to Iowa was to support Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who is running for re-election and who took Pence on a tour of the fair Friday.

“I’ve been traveling all across the country, and 100 percent of our focus has been on doing our part to win back the House, win back the Senate, elect and re-elect Republican governors all across the country,” Pence said. “And after the first of the year, me and my family will do as we’ve always done, and that is reflect and pray on where we might next serve, where we might next contribute.”

Reiterating comments made Wednesday in New Hampshire, Pence on Friday criticized Republicans who are calling for the defunding of the FBI, but said he was “deeply troubled” that the agency executed a search warrant at former President Donald Trump’s home.

“I called on Attorney General Merrick Garland, as Sen. Grassley has done, to bring forward the information to the American people to explain why this was necessary,” he said. “This unprecedented action by the attorney general and the FBI merits unprecedented transparency.”

The search warrant and an inventory of items seized from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate were unsealed last week, showing the FBI retrieved various classified and top secret documents. The judge in the case on Thursday indicated he was leaning toward releasing a portion of the affidavit, which would shed more light on the Justice Department’s evidence that led to the warrant.

Pence also said he would give consideration to an invitation to testify before the Jan. 6 committee, which is investigating the 2021 insurrection at the Capitol, but he’d have to consider it in relation to his role as vice president. Republican U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, who sits on the committee, said Friday she hopes Pence testifies before the committee.

Iowa’s role

Iowa has influence in picking presidential candidates because it holds the first nominating contest for presidential primaries in the country, the Iowa caucuses.

Republicans are keeping the order of the nominating contests for 2024, and national Republican figures have been campaigning alongside congressional and state representatives this year.

National Democrats are considering shuffling the presidential primary order for the 2024 cycle, but won’ announce its plans until after the November midterm election.

Touring the Varied Industries Building and the Iowa Pork Tent with Pence on Friday, Grassley didn’t say whether he would support Pence in the 2024 Republican caucuses.

“I’m only worried about the 2022 election, so ask me that question sometime in the next year,” Grassley said when asked if he wanted Pence to run for president.

Trump has endorsed Grassley in his re-election bid, and Grassley this week also campaigned alongside Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, another potential 2024 contender.

Other congressional Republicans joining Pence at the Iowa GOP tent at the Varied Industries building, were state Sen. Zach Nunn, who’s running for Congress in Iowa’s 3rd District, and Republican U.S. Reps. Randy Feenstra (4th District) and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (1st District).

Dems on Pence

National Democrats took the opportunity to criticize Pence and Iowa Republicans for what they called their “extreme agenda” when it comes to abortions.

“Mike Pence has been dreaming of the day abortion is outlawed, he’s been dreaming about it for years,” Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison said in a press conference Friday.

Harrison said Grassley and 3rd District Republican candidate Zach Nunn also support what he called extreme abortion policies. He noted Nunn’s vote in 2018 for Iowa’s so-called “fetal heartbeat” law, which banned abortion after 6 weeks, often before a woman know’s she’s pregnant.