Mike Pence leaves open the possibility of a 2028 presidential run
Former Vice President Mike Pence says he has heard from people around the country encouraging him to consider another White House campaign, though he has not said when he might decide.
In September, Pence said he had no plans to run for president or another elected office in 2028. After the Republican Party’s heavy losses in the midterm elections, however, he sounded less definitive. “We’ve been hearing from a lot of people around the country,” he said, adding that he was humbled by the response.
Pence, who ran unsuccessfully for the 2024 Republican nomination, said the party’s first priority should be deciding what it stands for, rather than settling on a candidate. Winning the presidency in 2028, he argued, will depend on that.
He said he intends to keep advocating for what he described as a broad, mainstream conservative agenda. Without a return to principles such as a strong national defense, limited government, fiscal responsibility and opposition to abortion, Pence warned, the party’s choice of nominee may not matter.
Pence attributed some of the GOP’s midterm defeat—which left Democrats with a large House majority and control of the Senate—to what he sees as President Donald Trump’s shift away from traditional conservatism toward populism. He said voters had rejected this version of Republicanism.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle responded that Pence had shown a lack of courage and said his views carried little weight with Republican voters, pointing to Pence’s withdrawal from the 2024 race before the Iowa caucuses.
Pence said he did not know what came next for him, but that his focus was on defending the conservative principles he believes helped the party succeed and made the country strong, prosperous and free.
Asked whether he might support Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio if either sought the nomination, Pence said he would back candidates who embraced the party’s historic conservative agenda. He also said the midterm results offered a rebuke to populist conservatives who argue that the Reagan-era approach is out of step with the moment.
