Former Vice President Mike Pence announced he is suspending his presidential campaign during a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas on Saturday.
“It’s become clear to me: This is not my time. So, after much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today,” Pence said.
“Now I’m leaving this campaign, but let me promise you… I will never leave the fight for conservative values and I will never stop fighting to elect principled Republican leaders to every office in the land, so help me God,” Pence said to cheers.
Pence served as vice president under Donald Trump from January 2017 to January 2021. He announced that he was seeking the Republican nomination for president of the United States back in June, but his campaign failed to get traction in a crowded field of nominees, including Trump.
Pence became a polarizing figure in the GOP after allowing the certification of the electoral votes from the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 6, 2021. Large crowds of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol as the votes were being certified. As the Capitol was breached, Pence and other lawmakers were scurried away to safety.
“President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election,” the former vice president reiterated in 2022. “The presidency belongs to the American people, and the American people alone. Frankly, there is almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person could choose the American president.”
Meanwhile, Trump continues to campaign despite facing legal woes. He did not immediately address Pence’s comment on social media but is also expected to speak at the Republican Jewish Coalition later Saturday.
Watch Mike Pence announce he’s suspending his campaign below:
