Mike Pence, former Vice President of the United States, bids farewell to the Republican Jewish Coalition after announcing he is abandoning the presidential race. CAROLINE BREHMAN (EFE)
The Republican race for the White House is getting tighter. Mike Pence, the former vice president of Donald Trump’s administration, announced this Saturday that he is leaving the conservative party primaries. Indiana’s governor is the first high-profile politician to drop out of the race. He chose the annual convention of the Republican Jewish Coalition to announce his departure after six months of campaigning. This group, one of the most powerful pro-Israel lobbies in the country, had called on candidates to fight for the nomination in the 2024 presidential election. The leader from the first minute has been Donald Trump, who now has seven competitors.
“In June, I announced my intention to seek the Republican nomination for president because I believe there are many problems in this country. I was taught that to whom much is given, much is required. And with everything facing our country, I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. But the Bible teaches us that there is a time for every purpose, and now I know clearly that this is not my time,” said Pence, 64. To say goodbye, he brought his wife Karen, a Christian school teacher, onto the stage.
The governor of Indiana has immediately suspended his campaign and will return to his state with his family. “I always knew this fight would be tough, but I have no regrets,” he added. Pence is throwing in the towel months before the first caucus takes place Jan. 15 in Iowa, a state that typically treats the most conservative candidates well but where Pence’s good performance has been questionable.
When Pence announced his departure midway through his speech, he elicited a loud gasp of surprise from the audience. His message broke the inertia of the convention, which began at 9 a.m. with a program designed to provide a forum for the eight participants vying for the nomination. One by one, starting with Trumpist businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, they marched before potential donors and condemned Hamas’ actions in the Middle East and Israel’s right to respond with violence.
“Biden must end any message that calls on Israel to limit the use of force,” Pence noted minutes before announcing his resignation. “The United States must unconditionally support Israel and should prevent humanitarian aid from being sent to Gaza until all those abducted by Hamas are released,” said the former vice president, one of the few to openly admit that Trump won the 2020 election had lost and supported the transfer of power to Biden.
Last year, Pence attended the same annual meeting in Las Vegas to launch his autobiography, “So Help Me God,” the phrase with which officers conclude their oath of service. The book details his experiences in the Trump White House, which he never directly criticized during the campaign, although his supporters threatened him during the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
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In a recent USA Today poll, Pence was at the bottom of the race with 1% of Republican preferences. Despite being part of the Washington leadership, the Christian politician was at the bottom of the preferences, along with North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, who was the only one in favor of Trump loudly critical of it.
With his departure, Pence echoes several voices within the party that have urged those who do not have the opportunity to close the gap on Trump to drop out of the race. This was one of the most discussed topics after the second Republican debate in California, where Asa Hutchinson lost because he did not meet the minimum support requirements in the polls for a position in the forum. Now Pence, who has never managed to reach double digits in preferences, will be spared the shame of being left out of the third meeting, to be held on November 8 in Miami. One of the sponsors of this debate is the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Despite his long experience in politics and his sympathies with the evangelical electorate, Pence has had trouble raising money, one of the strengths that any candidate for the White House must demonstrate in the race. As of September, Pence had $1.1 million in the bank and about $620,000 in debt. Other candidates include Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, and Nikki Haley, who was Trump’s ambassador to the UN and is vying with DeSantis for the second place. This Saturday, Haley was the only candidate among the candidates to dedicate a message to Pence after his exit. “He was a good public servant who defended this country and fought for Israel. We owe him a debt of gratitude,” Haley said. Neither DeSantis nor Trump dedicated a single word to Pence.
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