Former Vice President Mike Pence says he is not closing the door on a 2028 presidential campaign, telling Fox News Digital that people around the country have reached out encouraging him to consider another run.
“We’ve been hearing from a lot of people around the country. I’ve been very humbled by that,” Pence said. He gave no timeline for deciding.
The comments mark a shift from September, when Pence told an audience at the Economic Club of Washington that he had “no plans” to seek the presidency or any other elected office in 2028. Pence ran unsuccessfully for the 2024 Republican nomination, dropping out before the Iowa caucuses.
In his first interview since the 2026 midterms, Pence delivered a pointed warning to his party, arguing Republicans will lose again unless they return to the conservative principles that have defined the GOP for decades.
“The most important thing is that we win the presidency in 2028. And to do that, I think it will be essential that we focus first on what we’re for before we focus on who we’re for,” Pence said.
A Rebuke of Trump-Era Populism
Pence, who served as President Trump’s vice president during his first term, blamed the GOP’s midterm losses — in which Democrats won a large House majority and retook the Senate — on what he described as Trump’s second-term drift from conservative principles toward a populist agenda.
“This version of Republicanism was just rejected by the American people” in “the wreckage of the 2026 midterm elections.”
Pence said he intends to keep pushing his organization, Advancing American Freedom, which he said has grown substantially over the past year, to advocate for what he called the “broad mainstream conservative agenda that’s defined the Republican Party for the last 50 years.”
“The truth is if we don’t return the Republican Party to the principles of a strong defense, limited government, fiscal responsibility, and the right to life, it won’t matter who we nominate in 2028,” he said.
Asked for comment, White House Spokesman Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital: “Mike Pence’s total and complete lack of courage caused untold damage to our great country. If Republican voters cared what Mike Pence had to say, he wouldn’t have had to drop out of the presidential race months before the Iowa caucuses.”
On Vance, Rubio and the Party’s Direction
Asked whether, if he chooses not to run, he could back Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio for the GOP nomination, Pence said: “What I’m gonna be looking for is men and women who embrace that historic traditional conservative agenda of the Republican Party.”
He pushed back on populist-leaning Republicans who suggest traditional conservatives “don’t know what time it is,” saying “the midterm elections have given a verdict on their approach to Republicanism.”
Pence said his focus going forward is clear. “I don’t know what the future holds, but all of my energies, all of my focus and my calling now is to be a champion and an advocate for the conservative principles that have defined our party, led us to our greatest successes, and always made America strong and prosperous and free,” he said.
he is the poster child for “stuck on stupid”
He’s dreaming! After he betrayed us so publicly, only the RINOS will support him. Hopefully there will continue to be fewer of them.