Pence returns to the country lane, where he will begin to chart his own political future

ATLANTA – Vice President Mike Pence returns to the election track on Friday, hitting the stub after two weeks of dodging the spotlight and remaining largely silent as President Donald Trump rages over their electoral loss.

The tumultuous transition – besieged by Trump’s baseless claims of electoral fraud and his refusal to concede – sets Pence up for one of the biggest political tests of his career.

Ever since Trump picked him as vice president, Pence has attempted to position himself as one of Trump’s staunch allies while distancing himself from some of the more outrageous rhetoric.

But he’ll only be Trump’s No.2 for less than nine weeks, leaving him to research his own political path – including running for president in 2024 – and how to chart his own course with or without Trump supporters.

Pence can begin “to position himself as the titular leader of the loyal opposition,” said Barry Bennett, a Republican strategist who worked for Trump’s 2016 campaign.

“What happened in the House shows us that the president’s policies were very popular. His personality, obviously, did not help some voters,” Bennett said. “But if Pence can execute the policies and not have the baggage of the image problem, he’ll be fine.”

Pence returns to the election track Friday to headline two rallies in Georgia for Republican Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, both of whom are stranded in second-round races in January that will determine which party controls the Senate.

The GOP’s case for Perdue and Loeffler hinges in part on the recognition that presidential Joe Biden will be in the White House next year and the fact that a Republican Senate is needed to keep him in check. But few Republicans, including Pence, have been willing to state this reality publicly for fear it might anger Trump and risk upsetting his core supporters, who have become a staple of the party’s coalition.

Instead, Republicans twisted their message, urging supporters to vote Republican to ensure the Green New Deal is not passed and to prevent Washington, DC and Puerto Rico from becoming states – not to say that these hypothetical situations could become realities only with a Democrat in the White House.

The attention-grabbing messages about Pence’s trip made no mention of Biden, a radical departure from the GOP message that focused on attacking Democratic Party leaders in the Trump era. Instead, the Republicans of Pence and Georgia tweeted links inviting supporters to register to attend the “Defend the Senate” and “Save Our Majority” rallies.

“The best message for Vice President Pence to send is that Senators Perdue and Loeffler are the last line of defense to protect the Senate from a far left agenda,” said Jon Thompson, who was the gatekeeper. -pence of Pence during the campaign.

“You could argue that this message ends up turning into: their electoral victories would result in a GOP majority in the Senate which provides major control over Joe Biden’s presidency,” Thompson said.

Pence had presidential ambitions before becoming vice president, and he is considered one of the top contenders for the Republican nomination in 2024. But the way he handles Trump in the coming weeks could shape his reputation within the left.

Many Republicans see the Georgia Senate second round as a testing ground for 2024. Potential candidates – from former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley to Florida Senator Marco Rubio – have already campaigned here in recent days. .

“Georgia is the first real test of the 2024 presidential election. Many 24 potential candidates descend on the state not only to encourage participation and defend Perdue and Loeffler, but to be seen and heard in what is now. the political center of the universe, ”said Thompson.

So far, Pence has led Trump’s post-election presidency in the same way he has throughout the presidential term. He was careful not to fully support Trump’s allegations of electoral fraud – baseless attacks on democratic institutions that may not reflect the party well in the future – while trying to appear unmistakably loyal.

Pence stood by Trump on election night but, speaking for less than a minute, he danced around Trump’s claims of “major fraud.”

“As the votes continue to be counted, we will remain vigilant, as the president said,” Pence told the White House when the results arrived. “We will protect the integrity of the vote.”

Pence has also been noticeably absent from the Trump campaign’s legal challenges to election results in battlefield states, even as other allies of the president rushed to defend the cable news lawsuits and dutifully appeared at press conferences echoing Trump’s fraud allegations.

Trump’s speech to run again in 2024 looms above Pence and the rest of the presidential candidates. His defeat means he could run for a non-consecutive second term – a feat that was only accomplished by a single president – that would erase the efforts of other candidates to mount campaigns and create a messy Republican primary season.

“I expect Donald Trump to talk about running again until the day the filing deadline has passed. There is power and, frankly, it does grab attention,” Bennett said. “But in the end, I doubt he will.

“I hope Pence runs. Many of us hope he runs,” he added.