Former US vice president Mike Pence on Saturday suspended his presidential campaign, ending his quest to unseat former US president Donald Trump as the Republican standard-bearer and return the party to a more traditional brand of conservatism.
“We always knew this would be an uphill battle, but I have no regrets,” Pence said at a Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas.
Pence, 64, had urged the party to reject what he called “the siren song of populism unmoored to conservative principles” — a clear reference to Trump’s more isolationist and protectionist policies that Pence said would abrogate US leadership around the world.
Photo: Reuters
However, Pence’s campaign struggled amid a crowded field of candidates, lackluster fundraising and low polling, despite his high name recognition. He was running in sixth place in Iowa and eighth in New Hampshire,the RealClearPolitics average of state Republican nomination polls showed.
Pence sat at 3.5 percent support in the latest average of national polls.
In the third quarter, he spent nearly as much as he brought in and contributed US$150,000 of his own money to the campaign, a sign that he was struggling to raise funds.
“So after much prayer and deliberation I have decided to suspend my campaign for president,” he told the conference. “The only thing that was harder than coming up short was to never try at all.”
“The Bible tells us there’s a time for every purpose. Traveling over the country for the past six months, I came here today to say it’s become clear to me that this is not my time,” Pence told the Las Vegas gathering, to gasps and cheers from the crowd.
Pence’s unexpectedly quick departure from the race — before the third Republican debate in Miami next month — could help to consolidate support among other non-Trump candidates.
While Pence did not immediately endorse another candidate, polls that ask voters for their second-choice candidate suggest that US Senator Tim Scott and former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley would most benefit from Pence’s departure.
A former talk show host, congressman and Indiana governor, Pence lent conservative credibility to Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and served as a cheerleader for Trump’s policies during four years as vice president.
However, their political alliance — and their friendship — ended on Jan. 6, 2021, when Trump urged a violent mob to march on the US Capitol in an attempt to prevent Pence from presiding over the certification of Democrat Joe Biden as president.
That pressure campaign is now the subject of indictments in Washington and Atlanta, Georgia, two of the four criminal cases Trump is defending himself on.
Most Republicans took Trump’s side in the split, and high numbers of Republican voters have an unfavorable opinion of the former vice president.
An Iowa State University/Civiqs poll this month found that 18 percent of Republicans opposed Pence’s nomination, second only to former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, compared with 10 percent opposing Trump.
Pence also attacked Trump for moderating his position on abortion, saying that Republicans should fight for a national abortion ban.
By saying he is suspending his presidential bid rather than ending it, Pence can continue to raise money to pay off campaign debts.
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