EXCLUSIVE – BEDFORD, N.H. – Former Vice President Mike Pence says that the positive response he highlights he’s receiving from his new autobiography “has been very encouraging” as he weighs launching a bid for the White House in 2024.
“The fact that people are now getting to know me and my family, our faith, our conservative convictions better, has been a great source of encouragement as we think about the way forward and what our calling might be in the future,” Pence emphasized in a national exclusive interview with Fox News following his latest book signing for his memoir “So Help Me God.” The autobiography gives an account of his career, including his four years serving under former President Trump.
Pence spoke on Tuesday as his nationwide book tour brought him to New Hampshire, the state that for a century’s held the first primary in the race for the White House.
As Fox News first reported two weeks ago, the former vice president – who has long been a champion for social conservative voters, headlined a luncheon and held a book signing in Bedford, New Hampshire, with Cornerstone, a non-profit Christian advocacy organization in the Granite State.
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Later in the day, Pence held a second book signing at the Wentworth by the Sea hotel in New Castle as he headlined a gathering of the New Hampshire Federation of Republican Women. The former vice president also held some closed-door meetings with Republicans while in the state, in another sign he’s building towards a likely White House campaign.
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Pence, who was busy the past year and a half crisscrossing the country to campaign and help raise money for Republicans running in the 2022 elections, has made multiple stops in Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada, the first four states to vote in the Republican presidential nominating calendar – as he strengthens relationships in the early voting presidential primary and caucus states that usually precede the launch of a White House campaign. Additionally, Pence’s book tour took him to Nevada last month and South Carolina last week.
Former Vice President Mike Pence signs copies of his new autobiography “So Help Me God,” at a book signing on Dec. 12, 2022, in Bedford, New Hampshire.
(Fox News)
The former vice president reiterated that a decision on whether he’ll run for president won’t come until next year and added that he and his wife Karen will “make a decision wherever we feel called.” He added that he and his wife and their children will “give prayerful consideration” to a White House run as they discuss it over the holidays.
“We’ll continue to travel; we’ll continue to listen,” he added.
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Pence emphasized “I truly do believe that the American people want to see us get back to the polices that we advanced in the Trump-Pence administration….that had America standing strong not only at home but abroad.”
Former President Trump formally launches a 2024 White House campaign, during an announcement at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday, Nov. 15, 2022.
(Eva Marie Uzcategui/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
However, in an apparent jab at his former boss, Pence added that “I do sense that people want leadership that could unite our country around our highest ideals. Leadership that would show the same civility and respect that frankly the American people show to each other every day.
“I’m not convinced that the American people are divided as our politics are these days,” he added. “I’m convinced more every day that the American people long for leadership that shows the respect and the civility.”
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When asked by Fox News if Trump – who last month launched a third presidential campaign – can unite the country, Pence reiterated that “I think that we’ll have better choices in 2024…I think we’re going into a different season where the American people would like to see leadership that could unite our country and demonstrate the kind of civility and respect they show each other every day.”
The former vice president is not the only member of the Trump administration who is seriously mulling a White House run. So are Mike Pompeo, who served as Secretary of State and CIA direction during the Trump administration, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during the former president’s first two years in the White House.
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“I have confidence that Republican primary voters are going to sort it out,” Pence said when asked if there’s a concern that a potentially crowded GOP presidential field would benefit Trump. “I think again and again throughout the history of our party and the history of this country, the wisdom and judgment of the American people has shined through, and I believe it will again.”
Pence said if he runs for the White House, “We’ll trust our future to almighty God and to the judgment of Republican voters and if history allows, ultimately to the American people.”
