Former US Vice President Mike Pence has declared his candidacy for president, pitting him against his former employer, Donald Trump.
Pence positions himself as a Reagan Republican aiming to return America to conservative ideals in a launch video published on Wednesday, June 7 ahead of his campaign launching later that day in Iowa.
“It would be easy to stay on the sidelines. But that’s not how I was raised,” he says in the video. “That’s why today, before God and my family, I’m announcing I’m running for president of the United States.”
Pence’s presidential bid puts him in an unusual situation, as he becomes the first vice president in modern history to face his former boss, who is currently the Republican Party’s front-runner for the 2024 nomination.
Pence, Trump’s previously devoted second-in-command, defied him by declining to alter the 2020 election results and presiding over Congress’ confirmation of Joe Biden’s victory on January 6, 2021.
Pence argues in the video that “different times call for different leadership” and that the nation needs a leader “that will appeal, as Lincoln said, to the better angels of our nature.”
“We can bring this country back. We can defend our nation and secure our border. We could revive our economy, and put our nation back on a path to a balanced budget, defend our liberties and give America a new beginning for life,” Pence says.
Pence joins a growing field of Republican hopefuls, which so far has been dominated by Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
