Mike Pence needs Donald Trump’s blessing for the 2024 race to be successful

Vice President Mike Pence is considered the frontrunner for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024 – if Donald Trump decides not to run.

Whether or not Pence has such ambitions, Trump’s continued influence suggests that success will depend on his blessing.

While Pence is more popular than prospects such as Donald Trump Jr. or Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the president’s vote this year – more than any other serving commander-in-chief in history – makes it unlikely that anyone can outdo him if he decides to run.

“There’s no one who is one step ahead of Trump if he wants to do it,” said Douglas Heye, former communications director for the Republican National Committee. Newsweek. He added that he thought it was too early to call a favorite but that, with Trump as an option, it was hard to see anyone else claiming a claim.

“Until Trump decides whether or not he is holding people back,” Heye said.

“Who steps in first if Trump is right out there floating him? It would be difficult for Pence to do that.”

Trump continues to insist that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris’ victory was marred by fraud, but has not provided evidence of widespread irregularities. Pence was more moderate in his comments, but did not break ranks with the president.

The president’s potential role as Kingsmaker 2024 could be further motivation for Pence’s loyalty.

“Former presidents of late have tended to drift into the background after the presidency, but I think Trump will be an exception. Trump will be a major influencer in the party, whether as a future candidate or, more likely in my opinion, as a kingmaker, ”said Richard Johnson, senior lecturer in American politics and politics at Queen Mary University in London.

“If the latter, then his Imprimatur will instantly make a candidate the frontrunner for the nomination. I imagine a Pence nomination, with Trump’s endorsement, would be very difficult to defeat in a Republican nomination race. I’m not convinced Trump will return Pence, but that surely explains why Pence is doing everything he can to win Trump’s favor. “

Thomas Gift, Senior Lecturer in Political Science and Director of the Center on American Politics at University College London, said Newsweek he thinks Pence will have to stick with Trump.

“Pence, by definition, will carry much of the baggage associated with Trump’s presidency. But if he wants to run in 2024 – which doesn’t seem to be a given at all – abandoning Trump now would almost certainly make this offer untenable,” he said.

Politically, it would put Pence in the worst position: anti-Trump people would reject him because of his long association with their nemesis, while Trump loyalists would not support him either because he turned his back on them. hero.”

Clodagh Harrington, associate professor of American politics at De Montfort University in Leicester, agrees that Pence’s loyalty to Trump would be a key advantage if he did come forward.

“He never tried to outdo Donald Trump, who could and never criticized him,” she said, suggesting it would “play well” with the millions of voters who wanted Trump’s second term.

In response to a poll suggesting that many Republicans would support a Trump race in 2024, the president tweeted on Wednesday: “But 2020 is far from over!”

John Owens, professor of U.S. government and politics at the University of Westminster in London, has said he believes Trump will run in 2024.

“Once Trump announces, the other candidates will not have much of a chance of getting the nomination and therefore may decide not to run,” Owens said, adding that if Trump had chosen not to run, the “nominee will have had to pay obedience to Trump.”

Although Pence has not discussed his plans for the next election, Trump has been asked if his vice president will have his “automatic approval” in 2024.

“Well that’s way too much, listen – I love Mike, we’re running again, but you’re talking a long time so you can’t put me in this position,” he said during a Fox and friends interview last year.

“But I would certainly give him great consideration. He is a very, very exceptional person.”

Newsweek has contacted the Trump campaign and the vice president’s office for comment.