Former Vice President Mike Pence on Friday said that he “cannot in good conscience” endorse presidential candidate Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
Pence said his decision was based on more than just the Capitol riot that occurred on Jan. 6, 2021, during which Trump supporters called for Pence’s hanging.
“I’m incredibly proud of the record of our administration,” said Pence. “But that being said, during my presidential campaign, I made it clear there were profound differences between me and President Trump on a range of issues. And not just our differences on our constitutional duties that I exercised on Jan. 6.”
Pence cited Trump’s building the national debt, unwillingness to take a position on abortion restrictions and his recent reversal on banning Chinese ownership of the social media app TikTok as reasons for his not endorsing him.
“In each of these cases,” said Pence, “Donald Trump is pursuing and articulating an agenda that is at odds with the conservative agenda that we governed on during our four years.”
Trump’s term as president showed his lack of attention to certain economical issues.
“As I have watched his candidacy unfold, I’ve seen him walking away from our commitment to confronting our national debt. I’ve seen him starting to shy away from a commitment to the sanctity of human life. And this last week, his reversal on getting tough on China and supporting our administration’s efforts to force a sale of ByteDance’s TikTok.”
Pence is not the only former Trump administration official who will not endorse Trump in the race for president. Nikki Haley, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, has yet to endorse the former president after suspending her own primary campaign earlier this month. She said Trump would have to earn the votes of her supporters, but hasn’t made an attempt thus far.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who worked with Trump in 2020, has also declined to back the former president after ending his own campaign.
After announcing the end of his candidacy for president in October, Christie withheld an endorsement in the 2024 Republican primary but he previously vowed to back the eventual GOP nominee. Trump said after Pence dropped out that his former vice president should endorse him, saying, “I chose him, made him vice president. But… people in politics can be very disloyal.”
“I couldn’t care less,” Trump said. “We need strong people in this country. We don’t need weak people.”
Trump has asserted that the party is united behind him and his success in November will bring the GOP together.
“Those who worked with Donald Trump at the most senior level of his administration believe he is too dangerous, too selfish, and too extreme to ever lead our country again – we agree,” Biden’s campaign spokesperson Ammar Moussa said in a statement.
Pence declined to say how he plans to vote in November.
“I will keep my vote to myself,” he said. “I would never vote for Joe Biden.”
