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In Iowa, Pence makes presidential campaign official, draws contrasts with Trump
The former vice president pushed back on Trump’s assertions related to the 2020 election results and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection on the U.S. Capitol
Jun. 7, 2023 1:20 pm, Updated: Jun. 7, 2023 5:52 pm
ANKENY — Mike Pence’s presidential campaign began Wednesday in Iowa with a full-throated rebuke of his ex-boss, former President Donald Trump.
During an announcement event to make his long-expected presidential campaign official, Pence drew pointed contrasts between himself and Trump, especially over the 2020 presidential election results and Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection on the U.S. Capitol.
Pence said Wednesday, as he has previously, that he was fulfilling his oath to the U.S. Constitution when he, as vice president, presided over the certification of the 2020 presidential election results in the U.S. Senate that day. Trump, without merit, instructed him to reject those results and remand them to the states for further review.
“The American people deserve to know that on that day President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and our Constitution,” Pence said. “Now voters will be faced with the same choice. I chose the Constitution and I always will.”
That statement drew a standing ovation from the roughly 250 people who gathered to hear Pence speak at Des Moines Area Community College.
Despite Trump’s assertions then and now, experts say the Constitution does not authorize the vice president to reject the results of the presidential election during their certification process in the U.S. Senate.
“My former running mate continues to insist that I had the right to overturn the election. But President Trump was wrong then, and he is wrong now,” Pence said. “I had hoped he would come around and see that he had been misled about my role that day. But that was not to be. …
“The American people must know leaders in the Republican Party will keep our oath to support and defend the Constitution, even when it’s not in our political interests to do so,” Pence added. “I believe that anyone who puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again.”
In a Fox News interview immediately after his event in Iowa, however, Pence said he would support the eventual Republican presidential nominee.
Pence, a former governor and congressman from Indiana, said Wednesday he is proud of the conservative accomplishments of the Trump-Pence administration, but also contrasted himself with Trump on policy looking forward. Pence said he will offer policies to ensure the “long-term survival” of Social Security and Medicare, and asserted that Trump has retreated on abortion policy.
Democratic reaction
Despite Pence’s attempts to draw those contrasts, Iowa Democratic Party state Chair Rita Hart, in a statement, was eager to tie Pence to Trump.
“Mike Pence has long championed one of the most extreme, anti-middle-class agendas in Congress and Indiana. Now, after serving as Donald Trump’s wing man in Washington, he’s looking to take the failed Trump-Pence policies that caused average farm income to fall to near 15-year lows and weakened our middle class even further,” Hart said.
Republican reaction
A Trump-supporting PAC issued a statement that first mentioned Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — the candidate closest to Trump in national polling on the Republican presidential primary — before getting to Pence.
“Mike Pence’s entrance into the race caps off another bad week for Ron DeSantis’ faltering campaign,” Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for the Make America Great Again PAC, said in the statement, “but the question most GOP voters are asking themselves about Pence’s candidacy is ‘Why?’”
Paul and Mary Cox, of Ankeny, said they would like Pence to be Republicans’ presidential candidate in 2024 because they believe he can deliver on conservative policies in a calm and measured manner unlike Trump.
“I think (Pence) showed real integrity over that Jan. 6 business,” Paul Cox said.
A similar viewpoint was expressed by Jake Strother, who said he traveled from Oklahoma City just to see Pence. Strother said he believes Pence can deliver a conservative agenda from the White House, “but do it in a calmer, more respectful way,” Strother said. “He can be calm and strong at the same time.”
Pence was scheduled to appear Wednesday night in a CNN town hall broadcast from Grand View University in Des Moines, and Thursday will make a yet-to-be-announced campaign stop in the Des Moines area.
Crowded field of presidential hopefuls
Pence joins an expanding field of Republican presidential candidates that includes Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley, Ohio biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, conservative talk show host Larry Elder, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Michigan businessman Perry Johnson.
Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com
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