Pence Answers on Whether He's Endorsing Trump

Ex-VP says he can't 'in good conscience' give his former boss a thumbs-up for November
By Jenn Gidman,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 16, 2024 7:00 AM CDT

Mike Pence hasn't shied away from criticizing his old boss, former President Donald Trump, especially regarding the debacle of Jan. 6, but many have been waiting to see if the ex-vice president would offer his thumbs-up to Trump for the upcoming election. Now, we have our answer—and it's a no. "It should come as no surprise that I will not be endorsing Donald Trump this year," Pence said during a Friday appearance on Fox News, noting that he was "incredibly proud" of the Trump administration's accomplishments, but that he had reasons for disembarking from the Trump train.

Those reasons include Trump's tepid reaction to China, a pulling away from his stance on abortion limits, and "walking away from our commitment to confronting the national debt," Pence noted, per the Wall Street Journal. "In each of these cases, Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years," Pence said on Fox. "And that's why I cannot in good conscience endorse Donald Trump in this campaign."

The AP notes that Pence is just the latest in a string of former top officials in the Trump administration who've turned on the former commander in chief, and that his lack of endorsement "marks the end of a metamorphosis for Pence, who had long been seen as one of Trump's most loyal defenders"—until Pence refused to help Trump overturn the 2020 election. Still, don't expect Pence to cast a ballot for the other guy: He said he would never vote for President Biden in November, nor revive his own run for president, this time as an independent. "I'm a Republican," he said, though he declined to say who he'd vote for. (More Mike Pence stories.)

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