The Republican race for the White House is narrowing. Mike Pence, the former vice president of Donald Trump’s Administration, announced this Saturday that he is leaving the conservative party primaries. The Indiana governor is the first high-profile politician to drop out of the race. He has chosen 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 the contenders fighting to win the nomination for the 2024 presidential election. The leader from the first minute is Donald Trump, who now has seven rivals.
“In June I announced my intention to seek the Republican nomination for president because I believe there are a lot of problems in this country. I was raised that to whom much is given, much is required. And with everything our country is facing, I couldn’t skip the opportunity. But the Bible teaches us that there is time for every purpose and now I know clearly that this is not my time,” said Pence, 64 years old. He brought his wife Karen, a Christian school teacher, on stage to say goodbye to him.
The governor of Indiana has immediately suspended his campaign and will return to his State with his family. “I always knew this battle would be uphill, but I have no regrets,” he added. Pence throws in the towel months before the first caucus is held in Iowa, on January 15, a state that usually treats the most conservative candidates well, but where Pence’s good performance was in doubt.
When announcing his departure, halfway through his speech, Pence elicited a loud gasp of surprise from the audience. His message broke the inertia of the convention, which started at nine in the morning with a program that would give a forum to the eight fighting for the nomination. One by one, starting with Trumpist businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, they paraded before potential donors condemning Hamas’ actions in the Middle East and Israel’s right to respond with force.
“Biden must end any message that asks Israel to limit the use of force,” Pence had noted minutes before revealing his resignation. “The United States must support Israel without conditions and should prevent humanitarian aid from being sent to Gaza until all those kidnapped by Hamas are released,” said the former vice president, one of the few who openly acknowledged that Trump lost the election. of 2020 and was in favor of transferring power to Biden.
Last year, Pence attended this same annual convention in Las Vegas to present his autobiography, So help me god the phrase with which officials close the oath of service. The book narrates his experience in the Trump White House, whom he never directly criticized in the campaign despite the fact that his supporters threatened him during the assault on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
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In a recent survey conducted by the newspaper USA Today, Pence was at the bottom of the race with 1% of the preferences among Republicans. Despite having been part of the Washington leadership, the Christian politician was at the bottom of the preferences along with the governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgum, and Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, weighed down in the preferences for being the only one who is vocally critical of Trump.
With his departure, Pence agrees with several voices within the party that asked those who do not have the opportunity to close the gap on Trump to abandon the race. This was one of the most talked about topics after the second Republican debate held in California, which lost Asa Hutchinson because he did not meet the minimum support requirements in the polls to have a position in the forum. Now Pence, who never managed to reach double digits in the preferences, is saved the shame of being left out of the third meeting, which will be held on November 8 in Miami. One of the sponsors of that debate is the Republican Jewish Coalition.
Despite his long experience in politics and his sympathies with the evangelical electorate, Pence was having problems raising money, one of the strengths that every candidate for the White House must show in the race. In September, Pence had $1.1 million in the bank and a debt of around $620,000. Other candidates, such as Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, and Nikki Haley, who was Trump’s ambassador to the UN and who is fighting with DeSantis for second place. This Saturday, Haley was the only one among the candidates who dedicated a message to Pence after her departure. “He has been a good public servant who has defended this country and fought for Israel, we owe him a debt,” Haley said. Neither DeSantis nor Trump dedicated a single word to Pence.
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