Former US Vice President Mike Pence has announced his suspension and dropped out from the 2024 presidential race. Giving reasons for his withdrawal, he citied financial challenges and lagging poll numbers. Pence has, however, vowed to help elect “principled Republican leaders.”
His remark came on Saturday at the Republican Jewish Coalition's annual conference in Las Vegas. Pence said, “There is a time for every purpose under Heaven. After traveling the country the past six months, it has become clear…this is not my time."
"After much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today," he said.
Further stating, he added, “I'm leaving this campaign, but let me promise you, I will never leave the fight for conservative values and I will never stop fighting to elect principled Republican leaders to every office in the land. So help me God.”
The decision to suspend the campaign for president was kept a close hold among advisors, CNN reported citing multiple sources. Many event planners even did not know that the announcement would be made on stage.
Earlier in June 2023, Pence had announced that he was running for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. Before becoming US Vice President, he had also served as Indiana governor and a US congressman. He had launched his bid in Iowa instead of his home state of Indiana.
Speaking of his roles so far, Pence has served as US Vice President to Trump and this time he was competing against him for the GOP nomination.
Earlier in 2021, Pence had a different view from Trump as he refused to reject electoral votes during Congress' certification of the 2020 election. Meanwhile, while speaking to CNN in August 2023, Pence had said, "What I want the American people to know is that President Trump was wrong then and he's wrong now that I had no right to overturn the election. I had no right to reject or return votes, and that, by God's grace, I did my duty under the Constitution of the United States."
(With agency inputs)
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