By Jonathan Allen, Vaughn Hillyard and Summer Concepcion — NBC News
Former Vice President Mike Pence is expected to enter the race for the GOP presidential nomination on June 7 with a campaign video and launch speech in Des Moines, Iowa, a person familiar with his plans told NBC News. Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey, will also launch his campaign next week, at an event in Manchester (New Hampshire), a source confirmed to NBC News.
Pence, a longtime defender of traditional conservatives' priorities on social and economic issues, will enter the race at a time when his former boss, former President Donald Trump, claims a majority in most national polls and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a clear second.
Redefining himself to Republican voters, most of whom know him as Trump's vice president, will be challenging.
Former Vice President Mike Pence in Washington, Oct. 19, 2022.Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images file
Pence, raised in Indiana, sees his Midwestern peers in the Iowa Republican Party, and its first caucuses in the country, as a hospitable home for his kind of politics. Normally, Iowa caucuses play a decisive role in the nomination fight, providing fuel to a handful of candidates and burying the hopes of the rest.
"We see this race as absolutely open, and Iowa is really going to solidify itself as the pivotal player," said the person familiar with Pence's plans. "It's a place that values Mike Pence's principles: traditional conservative principles, a deep-seated faith and an uncommon character."
The former vice president will campaign in all 99 Iowa counties before the caucuses, the person said, adding that the campaign "will do the things that put Mike Pence in an advantageous position."
That includes a lot of retail politics, from town hall-style meetings with Iowans to drop-by-drop sessions at restaurants. In those sessions, he will have to explain to Republican voters why he parted ways with Trump and certified his defeat in the 2020 election.
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In weighing a campaign in recent months, Pence signaled willingness to part ways with Trump on politics for the first time since becoming his running mate in 2016. In particular, Pence has unequivocally endorsed U.S. support for Ukraine and said Congress and the White House should consider cuts to Medicare and Social Security, positions contrary to those articulated by Trump.
Pence, who served a dozen years in the House of Representatives and four years as governor of Indiana, has long been one of the GOP's most vocal leaders pushing social conservatives' priorities on everything from abortion to LGBTQ rights. His record also shows a Reagan-era affinity for lower taxes, less regulation and robust defense spending.
For Pence, winning the nomination would represent a long and unlikely road back to prominence. He will take the first step in Des Moines next week, June 7, which is also his birthday.
"What better place to make your announcement than a place that's going to be instrumental in the nation's future," said the person familiar with his plans. "It certainly conveys the importance we are giving to the state."
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Despite their disagreement, Pence's criticism of Trump has been largely indirect. The same goes for his outreach to DeSantis, with whom he also disagrees over U.S. involvement in Ukraine. Still, the former vice president's entry into the race injects someone who has been defined for many Americans — for better and for worse — by his decision to take on Trump when the presidency and the rule of law were at stake.
Chris Christie, again candidate
It will be the second presidential campaign for Christie, who came in sixth place in the 2016 New Hampshire primary.
After dropping out of the race eight years ago, in a then-surprising twist, Christie endorsed Donald Trump's candidacy just days before Super Tuesday, lending his credibility to the momentum the former president had at the time.
Chris Christie in New Hampshire on April 20. Charles Krupa / AP file
Now Christie is very critical in public of Trump, who is again a candidate for the White House and leads the polls; He censures him, refusing to concede his loss to Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 and pushing unfounded claims of voter fraud.
Christie's decision to announce his presidential bid in New Hampshire comes after he has held several town halls in the swing state in recent months.
During a Town Hall in Manchester in March, Christie answered a voter's question about why she didn't stand up to Trump in 2016. In response, Christie said he and the other candidates made a "strategic mistake" by underestimating Trump, whose lack of political knowledge was evident, and believed that each of them had a chance to reduce the chances of facing him in a head-to-head, but "none of us got to do it."
Christie also defended his support for Trump in 2016 after he dropped out of the race, saying he made the calculation at the time that Trump would be better than then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (then-Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio). Then-Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida were still in the GOP presidential primary when Christie announced his support for Trump.) Christie said he believed he would be able to effectively profile Trump as the best candidate and president, but his hopes were proven wrong.
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A poll conducted this week by Monmouth University shows that Christie's favorability rating among Republicans is quite low. Registered voters who identify with or lean toward the Republican Party found that only 21% have a favorable opinion of Christie, while 47% view him unfavorably, 24% say they have no opinion of him, and 8% say they haven't heard enough of him.
Christie's results in the poll were the worst among the potential Republican presidential candidates analyzed, and pale in comparison to the ratings of Trump and DeSantis, whose favorability numbers were both above 70%.