Pence 2024 news - live: Former Vice President Mike Pence launches presidential campaign against Trump

Former vice president Mike Pence on Wednesday announced that he is entering the running for the 2024 presidential election, setting up a heated competition for the Republican nomination with former president Donald Trump.

In a launch video for his campaign, Mr Pence said a “different leadership” could turn the country around to prevent the American dream from being “crushed”.

“Today our party and our country need a leader that will appeal, as Lincoln said, to the better angels of our nature,” Mr Pence continued.

While the video highlights Mr Pence’s work as vice president, it avoids making a single mention of the man he served during that period – Mr Trump.

In an increasingly crowded GOP field, Mr Pence faces competition from fellow ex-Trump administration figures, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Mr Pence served as a member of the House of Representatives between 2001 and 2013 and as Indiana’s governor between 2013 and 2017, but rose to international attention as Mr Trump’s running-mate in 2016.

He is the first vice president in modern US history to run against his former running mate.

18:54 , Oliver O'Connell

“You know when Donald Trump ran for president in 2016 He promised to govern as a conservative. Together we did just that. Today he makes no such promise after leading the most pro-life administration in American history, Donald Trump and others in this race retreating from the cause of the unborn.

“Sanctity of life has been our party's calling for a half a century. Long before Donald Trump was a part of it. He treats it as an inconvenience even blaming our election losses in 2022. On overturning Roe v Wade as your president I will always stand for the sanctity of life and I will not rest and I will not relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the centre of American law in every state in the land.”

18:50 , Oliver O'Connell

18:46 , Oliver O'Connell

“Now, given our record, it might be fair to ask why I’m challenging my former running mate, let me say from my heart begins with a promise that I made to the American people to Almighty God and ends with different visions for the future of our nation in our party.

“January 6 was a tragic day in the life of our nation. Thanks to the courage of law enforcement, the violence was quelled. We reconvened the Congress the very same day to complete the work of the American people under the Constitution of the United States. As I've said many times, on that fateful day, President Trump's words were reckless danger, my family and everyone at the Capitol.

“But the American people deserve to know. On that day, President Trump also demanded to choose between him and the Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice I chose the Constitution and I always read. Four years earlier, I swore an oath my hand on my Bible and on Ronald Reagan's to support and defend the Constitution.”

18:42 , Oliver O'Connell

“This I know, we as Americans have had our fill of politicians who present themselves as great men and women. The last place we ought to look for deliverance is our government.”

Mr Pence goes on to praise the accomplishments of his time in office as vice president, saying: “While some in this contest have taken to criticizing the record of the Trump-Pence administration, I'm incredibly proud.”

He runs through a list of their achievements.

Mr Pence then says people ask why he would then run against Mr Trump...

18:38 , Oliver O'Connell

“We must elect a new Republican president will chart a course for our nation guided by our timeless principles.

“The Bible says without a vision the people perish and what’s true of a people is also true of nations. Well, ours will be a vision that’s grounded in freedom.”

18:34 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Pence says that in the two years since leaving the White House, he senses "weariness" from the people he talks with as he has travelled around the country.

"In many ways, our country has grown barely recognisable from just a few years ago," he says.

After listing a broad critique of the Biden administration from the border to school “indoctrination” and inflation, he formally announces he is running for president.

“We’re better than this. This country has been so good to my family, and we’re grateful. ... That’s why today, before God and my family, I’m announcing I’m running for President of the United States of America.”

He adds that the problems of the country are manmade and that the man responsible is Joe Biden.

18:31 , Oliver O'Connell

“Now most Americans know me from my last assignment in the White House. What you may not know is I was also a congressman from Indiana for 12 years. I was a leader for house conservatives. We fought for life and liberty. I battled against big spenders in both political parties during those years and most of them remembered,” says Mr Pence.

“I was a governor in Indiana where we cut taxes as you heard from Speaker Houston. We achieved record employment, we expanded educational choice stood for the right to life and the freedom of religion. And as your vice president.”

He adds: “I was proud to stand by President Donald Trump. Every single day when we made America great again. “

18:27 , Oliver O'Connell

Mike Pence takes that podium and thanks all of those who have introduced him.

Pence says: “Iowa is the right place to start our engines for the great American comeback.”

“We just wanted you to know men and women of Iowa. We know the next Republican nominee for president and the next President of the United States will get their start right here in the Hawkeye State.”

18:25 , Oliver O'Connell

Ms Pence continues that in 1999 the same congressional seat came up. Recalling a trip to a ranch for Mr Pence’s 40th birthday, she says: “We had weighed the pros and cons, discussed it at length ... Mike was right it was time.”

18:22 , Oliver O'Connell

Karen Pence is up to speak first giving the final introduction to her husband, which is predominantly focused on the family as well as his career.

Naming her family members Ms Pence gets emotional.

She continues: “I wanted to share a story with you and let you know why Mike Pence is announcing today. In 1988 and 1990, we ran for Congress and lost, and it was a good thing that we lost ... But we were very arrogant. And we were very full of ourselves. We thought Mike and Karen Pence are God’s gift to Washington DC.

“And we were humbled.”

18:17 , Oliver O'Connell

Next to speak is Speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives Todd Huston who has known Mr Pence since the early 1990s when he was a talk radio host.

Mr Huston says that “America needs a leader that will bring dignity and respect back to the office.”

While he contrasts Mr Pence with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, he makes no mentioned of Donald Trump.

“Today, I read someone said Mike Pence is like mayonnaise on toast ... there's a lot of Iowa bacon and maybe even some Tabasco sauce on that toast too,” Mr Huston says.

Kid Rock plays...

Mike and Karen Pence take to the stage.

Pence 2024 launch event underway

18:09 , Oliver O'Connell

Former Vice President Mike Pence’s 2024 campaign launch is getting underway with Greg Pence, his older brother, introducing the candidate.

He says his brother never left his post on January 6 and is the only Republican candidate who can beat President Joe Biden.

Watch LIVE: Mike Pence officially launches 2024 campaign

17:54 , Oliver O'Connell

Mike Pence launches 2024 presidential campaign in Iowa

Pence event wifi password: ‘KeptHisOath'

17:35 , Oliver O'Connell

Human Rights Campaign releases statement opposing Pence

17:30 , Oliver O'Connell

The Human Rights Campaign — America’s largest LGBTQ+ civil rights organization — released the following statement in response to today’s news that Former Vice President Mike Pence has officially filed his papers to run for President in 2024.

“In the past two presidential elections, the majority of American people rejected the Trump-Pence ticket and the hateful, theocratic extremism associated with MAGA leadership, said Human Rights Campaign President Kelley Robinson. “Mike Pence’s vision for the country is dangerously out of step with the average American’s views on freedom and equality, and his potential presidency would create devastating consequences for the safety of the LGBTQ+ community and the ability of our people to live as full members of society. At a time when far-right groups are influencing horrific legislation in state legislatures like never before, we will need to ensure that Pence, who has deep ties to the likes of Alliance Defending Freedom and Focus on the Family, will never replicate the same hate from the most powerful position in the country.”

“The Human Rights Campaign will work to mobilize the 62 million ‘Equality Voters’ — for whom LGBTQ+ equality is a make-or-break issue — to stand together in opposition to Pence’s candidacy, and to keep the previous administration’s destructive hate and bigotry forever a thing of the past.”

The advocacy group extensively details Mr Pence’s record here.

17:25 , Oliver O'Connell

Only one campaign question for South Baptists

17:15 , Oliver O'Connell

Southern Baptists form a core part of the white evangelical Christian bloc that has reliably and overwhelmingly voted Republican in recent elections, and is expected to again in 2024.

But Southern Baptists are weighing their options in the GOP presidential primary field — some already lining up behind Donald Trump, others wary of the former president, whom most evangelical voters supported in previous elections despite his vulgar language, serial marriages and sexual bravado. Some are looking at what Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis or other candidates might offer.

But even critics of many Baptist voters’ embrace of hard-right politics have little doubt where this is headed in November 2024 — support for whichever candidate emerges from the GOP nomination process. The only question is the extent of the fervor they bring to the polls.

Read more:

For many Southern Baptists, the only campaign question is which Republican candidate to support

17:00 , Oliver O'Connell

“To those who wreaked havoc in our Capitol today: you did not win,” Mr Pence responded in the aftermath, sounding far more presidential than Mr Trump.

“Violence never wins. Freedom wins. And this is still the people’s house. And as we reconvene in this chamber the world will again witness the resilience and strength of our democracy.”

The two men held clear-the-air talks five days after the failed insurrection but their relationship has clearly never recovered.

Speaking at a Republican dinner in New Hampshire in June 2021, Mr Pence told his audience: “You know, President Trump and I have spoken many times since we left office. And I don’t know if we’ll ever see eye to eye on that day.”

16:50 , Oliver O'Connell

Mr Pence refused to comply, instead writing a letter to Congress in which he explained: “I do not believe that the founders of our country intended to invest the vice president with unilateral authority to decide which electoral votes should be counted during the joint session of Congress, and no vice president in American history has ever asserted such authority.”

On the day the US Capitol was stormed by enraged Trump supporters attempting to stop the ratification, some participants even erected a gallows and chanted “Hang Mike Pence!” on the National Mall.

16:40 , Oliver O'Connell

Increasingly desperate, the president was caught on tape exerting pressure on Georgia’s secretary of state to “find” additional votes in that crucial swing state, before turning his attention to his own deputy, Mr Pence, whom he called upon to weaponise his ceremonial position overseeing a joint session of Congress on 6 January to ratify the election results.

Demanding that Mr Pence rule the election results null and void, Mr Trump piled on the public pressure in a series of tweets and in person on the campaign trail, presumably knowing his vice president was reluctant to follow orders.

“I hope Mike Pence comes through for us,” Mr Trump said in Georgia. “I hope our great vice president comes through for us. He’s a great guy. Of course, if he doesn’t come through, I won’t like him very much.”

16:30 , Oliver O'Connell

After losing the electoral vote to Democrat Joe Biden the previous November by 306 to 232 and the popular vote by 81.3 million ballots to 74.2 million, Mr Trump immediately and baselessly began to insist the contest had been “rigged” in a vast nationwide conspiracy orchestrated by his opponents.

Two months of farcical legal proceedings led by a ragtag group of misfit attorneys — most notably among them ex-New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani — ended with a whimper, as Mr Trump’s allies entirely failed to offer a court any argument that satisfied the legal requirements to bring lawsuits challenging the election, much less any proof of the fraud they had alleged.

16:20 , Oliver O'Connell

The pair always made for an unlikely double act, with Mr Pence’s quiet, respectful demeanour and devout evangelical Christian faith utterly at odds with the trash-talking New Yorker’s taste for celebrity, glitzy decor and vulgar showmanship.

But Mr Pence remained at his boss’s side throughout his tumultuous one-term presidency, a source of constant support until even his loyalty was tested beyond endurance by the events of 6 January 2021.

16:00 , Oliver O'Connell

Former US vice president Mike Pence, the once-loyal sideman to twice-impeached ex-president Donald Trump, will kick off his own attempt to win election to the nation’s top job when he formally announces his campaign at an event in Des Moines, Iowa, on Wednesday.

Mr Pence’s pre-empted that unveiling with a video posted to social media in which he channelled Abraham Lincoln by saying the nation required “different leadership” appealing to “the better angels of our nature”, coming just days after he made his candidacy official by filing the necessary paperwork with the Federal Election Commission.

15:50 , Oliver O'Connell

Having filed the necessary paperwork, Mr Pence’s first official event is a CNN town hall live this evening at 9pm on the network.

Perhaps the most pressing question for the former vice president is how he will separate himself from his former boss, Donald Trump and his close association with the one-term president.

He must also differentiate himself from the growing field of GOP candidates.

Pence launches 2024 campaign

15:34 , Oliver O'Connell

Good morning, welcome to our rolling coverage of former Vice President Mike Pence’s 2024 campaign launch.

Mr Pence enters a crowded field of Republican candidates vying for the party’s nomination to lead them against President Joe Biden when he seeks a second term.

The former vice president had begun his campaign with a distinctly Reaganesque video in which he makes no mention of former president Donald Trump.

Mr Pence is the first candidate to run against their former running mate in modern US history.