Trump still looms large over Pence's White House ambitions

‘Hang Mike Pence!” was the chilling chant of the mob at the US Capitol on 6 January. Can the same constituency be persuaded to vote for Mike Pence on 5 November 2024? He, for one, appears to think so.

- David Smith

The former vice-president has taken one of the first traditional steps of a presidential campaign, travelling across New Hampshire, which hosts the first primary in the 2024 vote, to meet activists, raise money and deliver a speech attacking Joe Biden.

Pence, who has nursed White House ambitions since his teens, has also visited the early-voting states of Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada, implying that a run is more likely than not.

But there is one problem: Donald Trump. The ex-president, whom Pence served faithfully – or obsequiously, in the eyes of critics – has not forgiven him for ignoring his plea to overturn the result of the 2020 election when he presided over the Senate as it certified Biden’s victory.

Pence’s continued insistence that he did his constitutional duty on 6 January, and had no power to block Biden, has done little to assuage the sense of betrayal among livid Trump supporters. “The people that he’s going to need to vote for him – the Republican primary base – are also the people who wanted to hang him on 6 January,” said Kurt Bardella, a former Republican congressional aide who advises the Democratic National Committee. “I don’t see how you overcome that.”