EXCLUSIVE — Former Vice President Mike Pence is headed to Iowa this month as the Republican’s preparations for a 2024 White House bid heat up.
Pence is scheduled to headline the annual Story County Lincoln Highway Dinner on April 23 in Ames. Earlier that day, the former vice president will be in northwestern Iowa’s staunchly conservative 4th Congressional District. The region is home to committed Republican voters who typically play a critical role in determining the winner of the state’s presidential nominating caucuses, the first such contest on the GOP’s White House primary calendar.
“We are excited to welcome [Pence] back to Northwest Iowa,” said Republican Rep. Randy Feenstra, who is emerging as a key caucus power broker. “As he likes to say: He’s a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican — in that order. Those values represent the fabric of the folks of the 4th District.”
Since last year, Pence has made multiple trips to Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, the states that vote first, second, and third, respectively, in Republican presidential nominating contests. New Hampshire and South Carolina hold traditional primaries. In addition to this month’s return to Iowa, the former vice president is headed to South Carolina in late April and early May, including for a sold-out event expected to draw 2,000 people.
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Meanwhile, Pence has built up his stockpile of frequent-flier miles traveling the country to support and raise money for fellow Republicans, including Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts, Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California, Reps. Randy Feenstra and Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa, and Rep. Lee Zeldin, a candidate for governor in New York.
Even as former President Donald Trump hints that he plans to seek the White House again in 2024, Pence is busy ramping up efforts to do the same as the rift between the two-time running mates widens.
This week, the former vice president unveiled a 25-point policy agenda through Advancing American Freedom, the political nonprofit group he launched after exiting the West Wing. The blueprint establishes Pence’s priorities in cultural, fiscal, and foreign policy areas.
“The Freedom Agenda presents a bold agenda focused on the future and offers a clear and compelling choice to the American people,” Pence said in a statement announcing the plan.
The former vice president’s emphasis on “the future” is a pointed break with Trump, who continues to focus on 2020 and his unsupported claims that the last presidential election was stolen. That topic also is the source of their political breakup.
Leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, congressional certification of President Joe Biden’s Electoral College victory, Trump pressured Pence to claim constitutional authority he did not have and send the matter back to the states, where he hoped to overturn the results and secure a second term. Pence refused and still stands by that decision, recently saying that Trump was flat “wrong” in his assessment of what he could do as presider over the certification process.
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In a recent interview with the Washington Examiner, Trump ruled out drafting Pence a third time to serve as his running mate, should he run for president in 2024, citing differences over the 2020 election.
Republicans close to Pence responded by suggesting the former vice president is not interested in any event — and that a Trump campaign would not deter the former vice president from running himself if he decides to pull the trigger.
