Mike Pence launched a direct attack on rivals Donald Trump, Vivek Ramaswamy and Ron DeSantis in a speech where he challenged the Republican Party to return to its conservative roots. 

The former vice president, in what was billed as a major speech by his campaign, slammed the direction the GOP was moving in and called for new leadership that would bring the party to what it was under Ronald Reagan. 

‘The truth is the Republican Party did not begin on a golden escalator in 2015,’ he said, referring to Trump’s campaign announcement, when he rode down as escalator at Trump Tower.

Much of what Pence addressed is reflective of the internal battle happening inside the Republican Party – a fight between the right-wing MAGA supporters and the more moderate side. The battle is playing out both on the campaign trail and in the halls of Congress as the GOP struggles with its future.

He made his argument at  Saint Anselm College’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics, an must-stop on the presidential campaign trail. New Hampshire, which holds the first in the nation primary, prides itself on its political independence, touting its state motto of ‘Live Free or Die.’

A small crowd of about 50 people listened to his remarks and posed for selfies afterward.  

For Pence, the speech could be a pivotal moment.  It comes after he made aggressive attacks in the first Republican primary debate. The second debate will take place in three weeks, on September 27 at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Other candidates have tried similar moves – making grand speeches that are also targeted at addressing one of the major questions voters have about them. Mitt Romney, a Mormon, made one on faith during his presidential campaign. And Barack Obama made one on race during his presidential bid.

For Pence, that major question is Trump. As his former vice president, he worked in the administration that pushed some of those policies he is now questioning. 

Trump has a strangle hold on the Republican Party. His MAGA supporters have made or broken candidates in several primary elections, leaving him in a position of power. The former president’s own arraingments and legal issues have seen him raise millions from his supporters. 

In his remarks, Pence cast himself as the inheritor of Reagan’s legacy and slammed his rivals for rejecting the Constitution, using the government to further their own agenda, and turning to populism.

‘When Donald Trump ran for president in 2016, he promised to govern as a conservative. Together we did,’ Pence said. ‘But it’s important for Republicans to know that he and his imitators in this Republican primary make no such promise today.’

He also criticized Trump’s position on Medicaid and Medicare. 

‘Donald Trump’s position on entitlement reform is identical to Joe Biden’s,’ Pence said. 

Pence is struggling to gain traction in the polls for the Republican presidential nomination. He has been barnstorming New Hampshire – the first primary state – but sits at 2% in the RealClearPolitics polling average of the state. Trump leads by double digits and Ramaswamy is at 6%.

And the latest poll in New Hampshire had Trump holding a 38-point lead over the field with 48% while Pence was in seventh place with only 4%. 

DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley shared second place with 10% apiece. Ramaswamy came in at 8%. 

Pence, in his speech, tried to tie DeSantis to Trump, calling the Florida governor an ‘imitator’ of the former president. 

‘These imitators in this primary have demonstrated a willingness to brandish government power to impose their will on opponents,’ he said, pointing to DeSantis’ war on Walt Disney.

‘The governor of Florida still justifies using the power of the state to punish a corporation for taking a political stance that he disagreed with,’ Pence said. 

The DeSantis/Disney clash began when the company spoke out against the governor’s so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ law – a state law prohibiting classroom discussion of sexual orientation and gender identity. As part of that war, DeSantis and the Republican-controlled Florida legislature terminated the self-governing privileges that Disney World had held since 1967.

And Pence criticized Ramaswamy for advocating in his book for a 59% inheritance tax. The former vice president said the tax policy was something liberals would support.

‘In his book Nation of Victims last year, he said that Americans should not become wealthy quote, just by having rich parents,’ Pence noted.

Pence called on Republicans to return to the policies of ‘limited government and individual liberty.’

He argued that was the way to defeat President Joe Biden next November. 

‘If we’re to defeat Joe Biden and turn America around, the Republican Party must be the party of limited government, free enterprise, fiscal responsibility and traditional moral values,’ Pence said in his closing. ‘And I’ll be carrying that message across the Granite State and all across America in the days ahead.’

Former President Donald Trump dumped on his former VP Mike Pence‘s political prospects in a new interview – where he said the conservative base ‘loves me’ and reiterated he was ‘disappointed’ in his former partner.   

‘Honestly, I haven’t spoken to Mike in a long time,’ Trump told the Christian Broadcasting Network.  

‘A long time is four or five months. I haven’t spoken to him in a long time. And he’s a nice man. He disappointed me on one thing because I think he should have sent the votes back to the legislatures,’ Trump said. 

It was an obvious reference to Pence’s refusal to meet Trump’s demand that he refuse to count votes certified by states for Biden on January 6, 2020.

Trump tweeted that day that Pence lacked ‘courage,’ although the House Jan. 6 committee is investigating Trump’s election overturn effort.

Trump, who holds high approval ratings within the Republican Party and who scored a victory when his favorite candidate J.D. Vance prevailed in the Ohio Senate primary, handicapped Pence poorly in a contested presidential primary.

‘So if Mike Pence gets into the 2024 presidential race, does the former president think his former VP has a shot?,’ CBN interviewer David Brody asked.

‘I don’t want to say,’ Trump responded. 

‘If Mike got in, I think it’d be a hard one for him. I think it would be a hard one.’

Then Trump immediately turned to his own political attributes. ‘I understand where the base is. I love the base. The base loves me. I think it’d be hard, but Mike was a good guy. I thought he was a very good vice president. He was my friend,’ he said.

Pence has spent years cultivating Christian conservative support. The former talk radio broadcaster carved out a voting record on conservative social issues as a House leader and member of the House GOP Caucus for a dozen years.

He frequently calls himself ‘a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order.’

Pence got a standing ovation at the Faith & Freedom Coalition meeting in Orlando last year, but a small group jeered at him, calling him a ‘traitor.’ 

Trump’s analysis appeared to presume a theoretical race that included both himself and Pence. But he also said he’ll decide whether to make another run for the White House after the midterms.

Many Republicans will likely wait until then to make their own decisions. Trump’s camp has also been eyeing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as a potential rival. It went public early this year when Trump took a swing at DeSantis for failing to state publicly whether he had gotten a booster shot. 

Sen. Mitt Romney is predicting Trump will be the GOP‘s nominee in 2024 if he runs. 

‘I don’t delude myself into thinking I have a big swath of the Republican Party,’ said Romney, who was the party’s presidential nominee in 2012 and was defeated by President Barack Obama. 

‘It’s hard to imagine anything that would derail his support,’ he said, in comments reported by Axios. ‘So if he wants to become the nominee in ’24, I think he’s very likely to achieve that,’ Romney said.

‘He’s the leader of the party, that’s clear … If he decides to run, he will be the nominee,’ Romney said. 

Mike Pence is not ruling out the possibility of going head-to-head with his old boss Donald Trump in a 2024 Republican presidential primary, a new report suggested on Monday.

‘We’ll go where we’re called,’ Pence told the New York Times when asked about the possible head-to-head.

‘That’s the way Karen and I have always approached these things.’ 

The former vice president’s flirtations with a potential White House bid were rounded up and put under the microscope in the Monday report – including speaking appearances in battleground states like Iowa where he touts the ‘Trump-Pence Administration’s’ successes but then sets himself up against the ex-president with his endorsement in Georgia’s primary election.

Meanwhile Trump, despite not formally declaring a 2024 bid yet, has eyes on the competition – including Pence. 

In a statement to DailyMail.com, his spokesman slammed his old deputy as ‘desperate’ and mocked him for trying to ‘chase’ his ‘lost relevance’ amid the former running mates’ latest divide over backing separate candidates in the Peach State’s gubernatorial election.

Speaking to the Times before an April speech in Iowa, Pence declared he was ‘incredibly proud of the record’ he and Trump had in office and said he and the ex-president spent ‘five years in the foxhole’ together.

But he also appeared to be signaling to GOP voters who were put off by Trump after last year’s Capitol riot.

‘I have been very moved traveling around the country how much people have made a point to express appreciation, it has been very humbling to me,’ he said about his refusal to go along with Trump’s plan to overturn the 2020 election.

For his part the ex-president has appeared to harden his tone against his former deputy, who he called a ‘good guy’ in a separate interview earlier this month.

‘Mike Pence was set to lose a governor’s race in 2016 before he was plucked up and his political career was salvaged,’ Trump spokesman Taylor Budowich told DailyMail.com.

Pence, who had been governor of Indiana and the No. 3 House Republican during his time in Congress, was chosen for the ticket in a bid to appeal to religious conservatives within the GOP. 

The spokesman continued: ‘Now, desperate to chase his lost relevance, Pence is parachuting into races, hoping someone is paying attention. The reality is, President Trump is already 82-3 with his endorsements, and there’s nothing stopping him from saving America in 2022 and beyond.’

Trump said of Pence on May 4, ‘I haven’t spoken to him in a long time, and he’s a nice man. He disappointed me on one thing because I think he should have sent the votes back to the legislatures.’

In Georgia, Trump has thrown his political weight behind former Senator David Perdue. Perdue was defeated by Democrat Senator Jon Ossoff in a runoff election just a day before the January 6 Capitol riot. 

Perdue was also among the GOP lawmakers who supported Trump’s false claims the 2020 presidential election was stolen. Pence’s candidate is incumbent Governor Brian Kemp, who invoked Trump’s outrage by refusing to overturn his state’s election count.

Georgia, which elected its first Democrats to the Senate in more than two decades this past year, narrowly went to Biden in the 2020 election.

But whereas Perdue continues to trail Kemp in opinion polls ahead of their Tuesday primary, Trump has consistently stayed on top of prospective GOP voter surveys.

The ex-president leads opponents by double-digits in multiple polls.

In the most recent Conservative Political Action Conference straw poll, Florida’s Republican Governor Ron DeSantis comes in at a distant second but dominates in a scenario without Trump. 

Pence comes in third and second in the respective polls.

However DeSantis has repeatedly refused to discuss his ambitions for higher office, insisting he is first and foremost interested in governing the Sunshine State – where he’s made a name for himself as one of the largest thorns in President Joe Biden’s side.

His fellow Republican governor, Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, doubted that popularity would aid him far outside of Florida.

‘I know there’s a lot of talk on Fox News and stuff like that on the national level or in Florida but there’s really not talk about him here in New Hampshire,’ Sununu, another potential 2024 contender, told the Times.

One new poll from over the weekend could upend that assertion, as well as months of early surveys.

Nearly 38 percent of respondents to a poll at a GOP convention in Wisconsin said they would back DeSantis in 2024. 

Trump comes in a close second with 32 percent of the vote.

Pence failed to reach even 5 percent support.

‘Go home for dinner’: Mike Pence dispenses advice on faith and family as 2024 hopeful teams up with his daughter on forthcoming book

• Former Vice President Mike Pence releases his second book in November
• ‘Go Home for Dinner’ is written with daughter Charlotte Pence Bond
• He is running in third place in the race for the GOP 2024 nomination 

By Rob Crilly, Senior U.S. Political Reporter For Dailymail.Com

Published: 15:38 EDT, 15 June 2023 | Updated: 15:38 EDT, 15 June 2023

Mike Pence‘s defiance of Donald Trump on January 6 earned him a standing ovation from Republican lawmakers at a meeting on Capitol Hill Wednesday. 

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas apparently praised Pence for continuing to count Electoral College votes to certify President Joe Biden‘s victory last year even after a mob of Trump supporters attacked the US Capitol in a bid to stop the process.

That move elicited applause from Pence’s fellow Republicans, a source familiar told DailyMail.com

Some GOP lawmakers at the meeting even ‘encouraged’ Pence to run for president, one congressman said – a move that Pence has not yet ruled out, even if it means going head-to-head against Trump in a contentious primary race.

‘People said they hope he’s going to be a big voice in 2024,’ Rep. Don Bacon of Nebraska told reporters after the meeting. 

‘I’m a fan of him. I’m not here to push him one way or the other, but I like Vice President Pence’s character, I like what he stands for.’

Pence spoke at a Republican Study Committee gathering in Washington, DC, the day after attending a fundraising dinner hosted by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy. 

Ramped-up public appearances, sit-downs with Republican officials and a number of high-profile endorsements in this year’s midterm elections have all fueled rumors that Pence is considering a run for the White House.

Asked by DailyMail.com how Pence took the encouragement, Bacon said the ex-veep ‘smiled.’

‘I think he appreciates the positive feedback,’ the Nebraska Republican said. 

Trump was not mentioned during the meeting, he said. Bacon was one of 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach the ex-president over the January 6 Capitol riot.

‘[Pence] was thanked in there for his courage on January 6, and I think people embraced his message and it was very positive,’ he added.

Another RSC member, Rep. Andy Barr of Kentucky, affirmed that lawmakers voiced their appreciation for his actions in defiance of Trump’s plot. 

‘The vice president is a real moral force within our party, he’s a true leader, he’s earned respect from Republicans and other Americans all over this country,’ Barr told the media. 

However he declined to affirm whether his colleagues were pushing Pence to run for president. 

‘I think the vice president said it best – he’s focused on 2022. He’s always been an advocate for House Republicans, an advocate for the Republican Study Committee, and as he said, his focus is 100 percent on helping us regain the majority,’ Barr said.

Pence arrived at the Capitol Hill Club for the meeting early on Wednesday morning, but managed to evade cameras by leaving through a connected exit at the Republican National Committee headquarters.

A video of Pence’s arrival was shared with DailyMail.com by the Tennessee Star, taken by staff photographer Anthony Peltier 

His top aide, Marc Short, was also present, though he did not stop to speak with reporters.

Despite neither formally declaring their candidacy yet, the growing furor around a Trump-Pence primary challenge is serving to further fracture the relationship between the former running mates.

It ruptured when Pence refused to go along with Trump and his allies’ plan to overturn the 2020 election, which the ex-vice president has since said he had no Constitutional right to do.

The growing number of Congressional candidates Pence is backing in the 2022 midterm elections is already testing the strength of Trump’s hold over the GOP.

Both Republican leaders are set to host dueling Friday events in Arizona for their respective gubernatorial candidates.

Pence is appearing on behalf of Karrin Taylor Robson, a former Reagan administration staffer who also served on the Arizona Board of Regents.

Trump meanwhile is holding his second rally of the year on behalf of Kari Lake, an ex-local news anchor who endeared herself to the former president by promoting his false 2020 election fraud claims.

Robson is also backed by Arizona’s term-limited Republican Governor Doug Ducey, who infuriated Trump when he refused to overturn Biden’s narrow victory in the state.

Mike Pence‘s former chief-of-staff Marc Short shrugged off Florida GOP Rep. Matt Gaetz’s criticism of his old boss on Monday night, after the Florida congressman mocked Pence at a young Republican conference over the weekend.

Gaetz told a crowd of millennial and Gen Z conservatives on Saturday night that Pence ‘will never be president’ and said he was a ‘nice guy, not a leader’ in response to speculation over the former vice president considering a White House bid.

The firebrand Republican also ridiculed pro-choice women by stating they are too unattractive and overweight to get pregnant.

‘I don’t know if Mike Pence will run for president in 2024, but I don’t think Matt Gaetz will have an impact on that,’ Short said on CNN.

He took a swipe at Gaetz over his ongoing federal sex trafficking probe involving a 17-year-old girl. The congressman was accused of paying for the teenager to travel across state lines in order to have sex with her.

‘I’d be surprised if he was still voting, it’s more likely he’ll be in prison for child sex trafficking by 2024,’ Short said.

‘And I’m actually surprised that Florida law enforcement still allows him to speak to teenage conferences like that. So, I’m not too worried about Matt Gaetz.’  

Gaetz had laughed off anger at his derogatory comments about women, telling those upset to ‘be offended.’

The Florida congressman on Saturday joked about the demonstrations against the Supreme Court‘s repeal of Roe v. Wade, mocking those who wanted to protect access to abortion nationwide.

‘Why is it that the women with the least likelihood of getting pregnant are the ones most worried about having abortions?’ Gaetz told college students at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit in Tampa.

‘Nobody wants to impregnate you if you look like a thumb.’

On Monday, he was asked to explain his comments.

‘I’m very pro-life and I make no apology for it,’ the 40-year-old said.

‘I’m grateful that Roe has been overturned and that Dobbs is now the jurisprudence on abortion. I find these people that go out in these pro-abortion, pro-murder rallies odious – and just, like, ugly on the inside and out. I make no apology for it.’

He said he didn’t think everyone who disagreed with him was ‘an ugly person’, but condemned those who protested outside the homes of the Supreme Court justices and called for a ‘night of rage’ in Washington DC.

Gaetz was asked by Channel 3: ‘Is it safe to say that, based off your comments, you’re suggesting that these women at these abortion rallies are ugly and overweight?’

‘Yes,’ he replied.

Asked: ‘What do you say to people who think those comments are offensive?’ the congressman replied: ‘Be offended.’

Gaetz has denied the sex-trafficking allegations against him, and no charges have been filed against him. The New York Times first reported the existence of the federal investigation into Gaetz in March 2021.

‘These people are odious on the inside and out,’ Gaetz said at the summit. ‘They’re like 5’2″, 350 pounds and they’re like, “Give me my abortions or I’ll get up and march and protest.” And I’m thinking, “March?” You look like you got ankles weaker than the legal reasoning behind Roe v. Wade.

‘A few of them need to get up and march. They need to get up and march for like an hour a day, swing those arms, get the blood pumping, maybe mix in a salad.’

It’s not the first time he has ridiculed those campaigning to uphold Roe v. Wade.

In May, when the draft Supreme Court decision leaked, Gaetz made his disdain for their activism clear.

‘How many of the women rallying against overturning Roe are over-educated, under-loved millennials who sadly return from their protests to a lonely microwave dinner with their cats, and no bumble matches?’ Gaetz tweeted.

Tulsi Gabbard overtakes Mike Pence as the third favorite candidate to win Republican 2024 presidential nomination – less than 48 hours after she quit the Democrats

• Tulsi Gabbard has overtaken former Vice President Mike Pence as the third favorite candidate to win the 2024 GOP nomination, according to bookmakers 
• And it comes less than 48 hours after she fled the Democratic Party
• British gambling company Betfair found that Gabbard’s odds of winning the GOP presidential nomination stand at 10-1 
• Former President Donald Trump is still the favorite with 11-8 odds, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with 12-5 odds 
• Pence, who had been in third place, moved to fourth with 16-1, according to Newsweek 

By Nikki Schwab, Senior U.S. Political Reporter

Published: 12:19 EDT, 13 October 2022 | Updated: 13:02 EDT, 13 October 2022