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After failing to gain momentum in polls and fundraising, former Vice President Mike Pence suspended his long-shot 2024 presidential campaign.
“Traveling across the country over the past six months, I came here to say it’s become clear to me,” Pence told audience members at an event hosted by The Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas on Saturday.
“This is not my time,” Pence added. “So after much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today.”
While Pence has not yet endorsed another Republican, he promised to “never leave the fight for conservative values, and never stop fighting to elect principled Republican leaders to every office in the land.”
The former vice president becomes the first major candidate to bow out of the 2024 Republican primary race, which has been led consistently by frontrunner President Donald Trump.
As previously reported by RSBN, an October Morning Consult survey of likely voters reported that Trump led seven other primary opponents with 62 percent support, while Pence took fifth place in the poll with five percent.
Pence’s departure from the race follows that of minor candidates Perry Johnson and Larry Elder, who dropped out of the GOP primaries earlier this week and endorsed Trump.
Pence launched his presidential bid back in June, but ultimately struggled to maintain more than single-support in recent surveys. Per RNC guidelines, the former vice president did not even meet the polling thresholds required to participate in the third Republican presidential debate.
In order for contenders to qualify, they must poll with at least four percent in two national polls, or at least four percent in a national poll and one early state poll.
Pence had also struggled to make inroads with donors. The Associated Press reported that the vice president ended last month with just $1.18 million in the bank, and $621,000 of debt which had likely grown since September.
Although Trump has not commented on his former vice president’s announcement as of late Saturday afternoon, several other 2024 Republican hopefuls expressed their reactions to the news.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called his former opponent “a principled man of faith who has worked tirelessly to advance the conservative cause” in a statement to X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday.
Former S.C. Gov. Nikki Haley also commended the former vice president as “a good man of service,” telling supporters at The Republican Jewish Coalition on Saturday that Americans owe him “a debt of gratitude.”
Pence ultimately fell from grace among supporters of the 45th president, struggling to gain support since the start of his long-shot presidential bid over his refusal to object to the 2020 presidential election results.
He also sparked disdain among many conservatives over his passionate support to fund the war in Ukraine, and increase U.S. involvement in the conflict.
Prior to serving as vice president to Trump, Pence served one term as governor of Indiana. He had also previously served six terms as a congressman in the U.S. House.
Though he is no longer running for president, Pence may shift his focus to Advancing American Freedom, a conservative group he founded after leaving office two years ago. He has yet to endorse a candidate for president.
