Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday drew applause for his decision to certify the 2020 election results while huddling with members of the Republican Study Committee, multiple lawmakers confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
Pence has drawn scorn from his onetime boss, former President Donald Trump, for refusing to send Electoral College votes back to several states due to false claims of fraud and cheating in the election that elevated Joe Biden to the presidency. The RSC is the largest conservative caucus in Congress. Pence headed it for a time during his 2001-2013 House tenure, before four years as Indiana governor and then a term as vice president.
The RSC chairman, Rep. Jim Banks (IN), brought in his fellow Hoosier as Republicans eye winning a House majority in November and as Pence considers a 2024 White House bid.
According to sources in the room, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) praised Pence’s handling of the certification after having faced strong pressure from Trump and other senior members of the administration to reject the Electoral College count.
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“People thanked him for his courage and for doing the right thing. So, he was basically — he was getting feedback from people, and they’re thanking him for his actions,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) told reporters.
Pence faced backlash from many in Trumpworld and the party base, with some rioters on Jan. 6 even going so far as to call for him to be hanged during the breach of the Capitol.
During the course of the meeting, Pence touted the policy platform he rolled out earlier this year aimed at providing conservatives with a road map on a range of issues, such as the ballooning national debt and foreign affairs.
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“We had a conversation around how Congress needs to take back its authority on how we go about spending — that was a big piece of the conversation,” said Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT). “He has done work [in Congress] to remove things from mandatory spending as we as Congress control the purse strings.”
Banks, a vocal Trump ally, has previously led efforts for the RSC to meet with other prospective 2024 Republican presidential candidates, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR), ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, among others.
