Mike Pence, the former US Vice President, has decided to step back from the 2024 presidential contest, saying, “this isn’t my time.”
He made the announcement at the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon.
‘We always knew this would be an uphill battle, but I have no regrets,’ he wrote in a statement.
Mr. Pence is the first leading Republican candidate to put his campaign on hold in a competition led by former President Donald Trump. Struggling to gain the support of Republican voters, Mr. Pence’s recent poll standings have been lackluster.
Furthermore, Mr. Pence’s campaign had accumulated a substantial debt, with the former vice president ending September owing $621,000 (£512,038) and possessing only $1.2m (£989,446) in the bank – a notably smaller amount compared to other Republican competitors.
‘I am leaving this campaign, but I will never leave the fight for conservative values,’ he wrote in a statement addressed to his supporters.
The 64-year-old lost the support of many Republican voters when he publicly opposed Mr. Trump after the 6 January Capitol riot in 2021, and when he oversaw the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election results in Congress.
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When he declined to overturn the Democratic leader’s election victory, Mr. Pence was admonished by Mr. Trump for his perceived lack of “courage.”
During their storming of the halls of Congress in 2021, some rioters were heard chanting “hang Mike Pence,” which has led many Trump loyalists to view him as a traitor since then.
In March, the former vice president voiced that Mr. Trump’s incitement of the rioters had “threatened his family and all individuals at the Capitol on that day.”
In his resignation, Mr. Pence made no endorsement of any other Republican candidates for the presidential election.
But he called on Americans to choose a leader that ‘will ‘appeal to the better angels of our nature’ and not only lead us to victory but also lead our nation with civility and back to those time-honoured principles that have always made America strong, prosperous and free.’
Mr. Pence’s decision to withdraw from the Republican presidential campaign occurred shortly before the third presidential debate on 8 November.