Mike Pence takes the field and challenges Donald Trump. The former vice president filed his papers with the electoral commission thus formalizing his candidacy ahead of the formal announcement on Wednesday, the day of his 64th birthday, in Iowa. With Pence opens a week of fire for the Republican aspirants to the White House: in fact, the candidacies of Chris Christie and Doug Burgum are also expected in days, with which the audience of GOP candidates will rise to 12 contenders. Christie, the former governor of New Jersey and friend of Barack Obama, will announce his descent into the field on June 6 from Manchester, New Hampshire, presenting himself as the greatest critic of Trump. Initially a supporter and ally of the former president, Christie intends to play his campaign entirely against the tycoon, in his opinion not suitable for a new mandate after inciting the assault on Congress on January 6.
Little known beyond North Dakota, of which he is governor, Burgum will instead take the field on the same day as Pence with an event in his state. His message is focused on energy policy and is reflected in the strategy he is pursuing in North Dakota, which is to achieve the goal of zero emissions by 2030 by accelerating the development of technology capable of capturing emissions. If for Christie and Burgum the chances of an election are at a standstill, for Pence the game is all to play. His descent into the field has an important symbolic value since his main opponent is his former boss, with whom among other things he left in a bad way. "We must avoid being won over by the siren song of populism," Pence said in recent days in Iowa, a conservative stronghold and the first state to vote in the Republican primary. Accompanied by his wife, Pence introduced himself to the voters and took a ride in a Harley-Davidson, his passion never hidden, at the Roast and Ride event. While frequently praising the successes of the Trump-Pence administration, the former vice president distanced himself from the tycoon after January 6 and since then the two have never been close again.
A staunch supporter of the traditional values of the Republican Party, starting with the absolute opposition to abortion, one of the hot topics of the electoral campaign, Pence has repeatedly reiterated his support for American support for Ukraine. Although the former president is the target in the crosshairs of his campaign, Pence risks paying in terms of votes precisely his former membership in the Trump administration, of which he partly proposes himself as the antithesis being a man of the establishment. In addition to the competition of the tycoon, firmly ahead in all the polls, the former vice president will have to contend with the fierce governor of Florida Ron DeSantis, favored by many as an alternative to Trump. In short, for Pence an uphill road but the challenge does not seem to scare him, just as he does not seem to fear the repeated attacks and nicknames that his former boss will sooner or later give him.
