Former U.S. Vice President, Mike Pence, has officially bowed out of the 2024 presidential race, stating that “This is not my time”.
He made this announcement while addressing the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas over the weekend.
“We always knew this would be an uphill battle, but I have no regrets,” he said.
Pence is the first major Republican candidate to suspend his campaign in a race led by former President Donald Trump.
Pence’s presidential aspirations had struggled in recent polls, failing to garner substantial support from Republican voters.
Additionally, his campaign had amassed significant debt, with Pence ending September owing $621,000 and holding only $1.2 million in his campaign coffers, considerably less than his Republican rivals.
“I am leaving this campaign, but I will never leave the fight for conservative values,” he wrote in a statement addressed to his supporters.
Pence had faced criticism and a decline in support from many Republican voters after publicly parting ways with former President Trump over the events of the January 6 Capitol riot in 2021.
Furthermore, he had presided over the certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 election results in Congress, which drew additional criticism.
In his resignation statement, Pence refrained from endorsing any other Republican candidates for the presidential election but called upon Americans to select a leader who would “appeal to the better angels of our nature” and lead the nation with civility, returning to the time-honored principles that have historically made America strong, prosperous, and free.