Vice President Mike Pence traveled to Lansing, Michigan, for his third bus tour in the state since December, scoring face time with voters in an effort that could help secure the state for President Trump in 2020 — and maybe for Mike Pence in 2024.
Aides in and orbiting the White House think it is highly likely Pence will run for president in 2024, Bloomberg reports. Though he hasn’t made a final decision, his time on the road is thought to lay the groundwork for this, but his staff stressed his focus on the election at hand.
In South Carolina, a state generally viewed as safe for the White House in 2020, the vice president met with a political consultant in February, a person familiar with the matter told Bloomberg.
The vice president has been dispatched to Wisconsin and more recently to Pennsylvania, where he addressed a diner packed with local supporters, taking the president’s message on the road in states the campaign hopes to keep in its column in November.
At the Fleetwood Diner on Tuesday, a packed crowd chanted “Trump-Pence” and called for “four more years.” Pence ordered pancakes, noting that Tuesday is National Pancake Day, and posed for selfies.
“God bless you,” one woman told him. “Thanks for your kindness,” he replied, patting her on the shoulder.
Many attendees said they had never seen the place so full.
Pence looped through the diner, chatting with patrons before reaching one woman who told him she was a Democrat and was not a Trump fan. He thanked her for greeting him anyway.
In Colorado last week, Trump took the stage at a rally after Pence introduced him.
“I heard he gave a great speech. I never want it to be too good. I never want it to be too good,” Trump joked. “I said, ‘Mike, take it easy. It can’t be too good.’ Mike is great.”
Officials who spoke to Bloomberg said Trump is aware that Pence is laying the groundwork for a run in 2024 and doesn’t mind.
Pence is loyal to Trump, faithful to his message, and careful to defer to him in his remarks.
“I bring greetings from the president,” he began at the Michigan Farm Bureau’s Lansing Legislative Seminar on Tuesday. Shoveling animal manure and keeping their enclosures clean on his family’s farm growing up “was great preparation” for his life to come. “God made a farmer, and God made an American farmer,” he added before speaking to tilling the soil in preparation for future rewards.
[Previous coverage: Pence may be loyal to Trump, but top Republicans say he’s no heir apparent in 2024]
