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The last conversation between the two Republican leaders was a phone call from Trump in April, Republican sources told CNN, wishing Pence the former vice president had recovered from heart surgery.
Pence doesn’t wait to reconcile with his former running mate – nor does he wait for the former president to make up his own mind about his political future. People around Pence have rejected the idea that he will delay planning for 2024 until Trump announces whether he will run.
“Mike is going to look at this and say, ‘Where am I called to serve? “Said a person close to Pence.” This will not be opposed by any man or woman. “
“If he feels called to do it,” the adviser continued, “it won’t be because of who else is in the race.”
Pence’s top aides told CNN this week that the Indiana Republican had doubled his squad to around 20 people this summer. He also added a leading Republican fundraiser, John Fogarty, and new office space for his nonprofit, Advancing American Freedom.
Right now, most of the other potential GOP candidates are circling around Trump, suggesting either they won’t run if he does, or, as former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, openly saying. .
This is not the case with Pence. Although Wizards are reluctant to state his plan, parts of it seem evident in the way he has expanded his operation and added to his schedule – all amid headlines that don’t exactly enhance his appeal to the faithful. of Trump.
But as Trump preoccupies himself with pleading the 2020 election and settling scores, often with his fellow Republicans, Pence tries to forge a path independent from the ex-president.
He crisscrosses the country to help Republican candidates and causes, helping with everything from fundraising to loaning out his key contributors to their campaigns. According to Aides, Pence is particularly focused on helping the GOP win a House majority and more governor’s seats in next year’s midterm elections.
He also plans to visit three of the first presidential primary states – Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina – in the coming months.
But some Republicans say that despite his efforts to take on a de facto party leader role, Pence remains a supporting actor on the Trump show.
“He is the most connected to Trump of all the players on the ground, in a way that is both useful and unnecessary,” said David Kochel, an Iowa-based Republican campaign strategist. “No one would be more affected by a Trump comment than Pence, and no one is more vulnerable to a Trump run.”
Stand out
While the GOP remains Trump’s party, those around Pence see his distinctions with Trump as an asset.
Pence’s forward-looking approach and emphasis on party unity, they hope, will over time seem better to Republican voters than retribution and Trump’s refusal to stand up for the time being.
Last weekend, a person close to Pence noted, Trump met briefly with police and firefighters in New York City – skipping the official September 11 20th anniversary commemorations attended by other former presidents. Trump then spent that evening calling a Florida pay-per-view series of boxing matches.
Aides pointed out a different timeline for Pence, starting with a new dedication of the 9/11 memorial in Indiana. That same weekend, Pence met the family of Daegan Page, a Marine who was one of 13 U.S. servicemen who died in a bombing raid during the withdrawal from Afghanistan, while on a trip to Omaha.
While in Omaha, Pence also attended two political events. He spoke at Nebraska Governor Pete Rickett’s annual fried steak alongside two other potential 2024 candidates, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. And he attended a fundraiser for Representative Don Bacon, a Republican House member in a vulnerable district who voted for Joe Biden in 2020.
Trump has focused his political energies this year on House Republicans who voted to impeach him and to get involved in competitive Senate primaries. Pence takes a different approach, designed to build and develop relationships that will come in handy later.
“Pence will try to help the party win seats, not divide,” said the person close to the former vice president.
On the fundraising circuit this summer, Pence raised funds for everyone from the Republican National Committee to individual House candidates like Bacon and South Carolina Rep. Nancy Mace. He organized two fundraisers for the Republican candidate for governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, and even loaned out a trusted communications assistant, Devin O’Malley, to help Youngkin’s campaign.
He also has upcoming fundraisers for the Indiana Congressional delegation and the Republican Governors Association, according to his advisers.
Pence remains a popular draw for Republican donors. One person who attended the RNC’s summer fundraising retreat in Southern California said the audience was “up to the mark” for Pence’s remarks.
“I think Pence is doing what he can”
Pence’s advisers want to prove that he was and remains a source of stable Conservative leadership where Trump, by definition, has not been.
Sometimes that means giving policy-oriented speeches, like his July speech on China to the Heritage Foundation, the conservative think tank where Pence is a “distinguished guest visitor.” He is expected to deliver a similar speech on law enforcement policy in the coming weeks.
At other times, it means reaffirming his actions on January 6, as he did in June at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. In that speech, Pence berated Trump and called the pressure to overthrow the 2020 election “un-American.”
But Pence is also careful to direct his criticism more openly against the Biden administration. In an appearance last week on “Fox & Friends,” he went after President Biden’s announcement that employees in medium and large companies would be required to get the coronavirus vaccine.
“I mean, get the President of the United States to say that he has been patient but his patience is running out? This is not how the American people expect our elected leaders to speak to them,” Pence said.
Instead, he called on government leaders to encourage Americans to get vaccinated and to “lead by example.” In doing so, Pence has positioned himself on a sort of common ground for Republicans: in favor of the vaccine while criticizing the policies of the Democratic administration.
For some Republican observers, the moves show that Pence is playing the hand that was dealt to him after the fallout of the 2020 election so far.
“I think Pence is doing what he can: say the right things, define himself as himself and not Trump’s surrogate, and help others,” said Erick Erickson, an Atlanta-based conservative radio host. . “But it’s kind of like a jet trying to land with a storm over the airport. It’s on hold until Trump decides.”
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