Mike Pence, Trump’s former VP, enters 2024 race as challenger to ex-prez

By Agence France-Presse: Republican former vice chairman Mike Pence has launched his hotly-anticipated downside to his one-time boss Donald Trump for the event’s 2024 White House nomination, papers filed with the US Federal Election Commission confirmed Monday.

The 63-year-old evangelical Christian was scheduled to kick off his presidential advertising marketing campaign formally on Wednesday with a video inside the early voting state of Iowa, changing into a member of an already crowded self-discipline.

Pence will then make his pitch to the nation at a reside televised metropolis hall event at 9:00 pm (0100 GMT Thursday), establishing the weird state of affairs of two former working mates turning into rivals.

The former vice chairman spent his 2017-21 tenure as vice chairman by Trump’s facet, honing his reputation as an unwaveringly loyal deputy who launched the religious correct into the tent and who was ready to defend the president in opposition to any accusation.

But he grew to grow to be a pariah in Trumpworld after rejecting the Republican chief’s requires that he overturn the 2020 election in his perform as president of the Senate.

Berated frequently by Trump after Joe Biden’s victory — and even heckled with chants of “traitor!” at a conservative conference in Florida — Pence had continued to reward his assailant in public.

That lastly modified as Trump’s torrent of false claims of election fraud led to a mob chanting for Pence to be hanged on the US Capitol.

Since the riot, Pence has known as out Trump for endangering his family and totally different of us on the Capitol, and has emphasised his variations with Trump on factors ranging from the coping with of Russian chief Vladimir Putin to abortion rights.