Mike Pence launches his presidential candidacy and will compete against Trump: "Every era requires different leadership"

By Jonathan Allen - NBC News

DES MOINES, Iowa — Former Vice President Mike Pence, who certified the results of the 2020 election under threat from Donald Trump supporters, launched his bid for the White House on Wednesday.

On his 64th birthday, Pence, a former governor of Indiana and six-term congressman, released a launch video in which he lambasts President Joe Biden and Trump for implication.

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"President Joe Biden and the radical left have weakened America at home and abroad," Pence said in a two-and-a-half-minute montage of America narrated by himself. "We can turn this country around. But different times demand different leadership," he said.

Addressing the often spiteful Trump more directly, Pence adds, "Today, our party and our country need a leader who will appeal, as Lincoln said, to the better angels of our nature."

He is scheduled to address supporters in Des Moines late in the day.

Pence, one of three candidates running in the GOP primary this week — former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ran Tuesday and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is expected to do so Wednesday — sees the nation's first caucus as fertile ground for his traditional, faith-based conservatism.

There is no doubt that he faces an uphill battle to compete for the party's nomination when Trump has the majority of GOP voters in most national polls and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is a clear second with 22.4% in the RealClearPolitics average of recent polls.

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Pence ranks fourth, behind Trump, DeSantis and Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the UN, with less than 4% in the RealClearPolitics average.

But beyond the numbers, a return of Pence would require an epic reversal of the political dynamic within the GOP.

Less than three years ago, Pence hid as a mob spurred on by Trump ransacked the Capitol. Some in the crowd, angered by his refusal to block certification of the 2020 defeat of the Trump-Pence ticket, chanted, "Hang Mike Pence!"

Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks during the National Review Ideas Summit, Friday, March 31, 2023, in Washington.Alex Brandon/AP

It was a dramatic turnaround for a loyal supporter who had spent his years in the vice presidency nodding to Trump. At times, Pence's support was crucial for the former Republican president, especially when they first appeared together in 2016.

At the time, some conservatives — especially evangelical Christians — were wary of Trump alienating the Republican base. Others were horrified by his personal conduct, including the release of an Access Hollywood tape in which Trump boasted of the ease with which he could sexually assault women with impunity.

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Pence, who sought to restrict abortion and gay rights in Congress and as governor of Indiana, acted as a major validator for Trump.

Now, like the other Republicans in the race, he faces the immense challenge of cutting Trump's support and consolidating the universe of GOP voters who are antipathetic to Trump or simply open to another candidate.

And while Pence has near-universal name recognition among voters, an advantage for most candidates, his low poll numbers suggest his challenge is complicated by the fact that the electorate has already formed an opinion of him.

"Mike Pence is a true conservative and a great public servant," said Dan Eberhart, a GOP donor who supports DeSantis. "He just doesn't have the support among Republicans that he needs to be competitive," he added.

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Pence's campaign officials are well aware that they have to recast the public narrative about him. They hope they can reintroduce him not as Trump's vice president or as the man who stood between the mob and the Constitution, but as the conservative leader he was in Congress and in Indiana.

Pence, a defender of former President George W. Bush's wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, has remained steadfast in his support for U.S. aid to Ukraine when Trump and DeSantis have questioned the appropriateness of such a mission.

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He has also distinguished himself from favorites by calling for cuts to Social Security and Medicare, a policy position that is popular among economic conservatives but anathema to more populist Republicans.

As a member of the House of Representatives, Pence confronted Bush as the leader of a rebel group that opposed his enactment of a prescription drug program for Medicare. He was also a leading proponent of conservative budgets that would have slashed entitlement programs.

On abortion, an issue that has fractured the Republican Party since the Supreme Court struck down federal protection of the procedure last year, Pence has called for a nationwide ban.

Trump, who appointed three of the justices who voted in the majority, has fallen short on that. DeSantis, who recently signed into law a law banning abortion for six weeks in Florida, has avoided the question of whether he would sign a measure banning abortion nationwide.

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Pence's Republican platform — strong national defense, spending cuts and conservative social policy — has allowed his allies to see a glimmer of hope in Iowa, which is why he is launching his campaign there.

"We see this race absolutely open, and Iowa is really going to cement itself as the central player," a person familiar with Pence's plans said last week. "It's a place that values Mike Pence's principles: traditional conservative principles, a deeply rooted faith and an uncommon character."