First on Fox: Pence takes shot at Trump in campaign kick-off video, invokes conservative icon

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Former Vice President Mike Pence says he's 'very confident we'll have the support' if as expected he launches a 2024 campaign next week

Pence was interviewed by Fox News on June 3, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa.

DES MOINES, IOWA – EXCLUSIVE – Former Vice President Mike Pence takes aim at President Biden and the Democrats, takes a subtle jab at his one-time running mate – former President Donald Trump –  and evokes the late President Ronald Reagan, as he announced his 2024 Republican presidential campaign in a launch video.

"President Joe Biden and the radical left have weakened America at home and abroad," Pence argues in his video, which was shared first with Fox News on Wednesday morning.

The video’s release came hours before the former vice president is expected to formally declare his candidacy in Iowa, the state whose caucuses lead off the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

"The American dream is being crushed under runaway inflation. Wages are dropping. Recession is looming. Our southern border is under siege and the enemies of freedom are on the march around the world. And worse still, timeless American values are under assault as never before," Pence charged.

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But portraying an optimistic vision for the future, Pence says "we can turn this country around. But different times call for different leadership. Today, our party and our country need a leader that will appeal, as Lincoln said, to the better angels of our nature."

"I have long believed to whom much is given, much will be required. My family and I have been blessed beyond measure with opportunities to serve this nation and it would be easy to stay on the sidelines. But that’s now how I was raised," Pence emphasized in his video before announcing that "that’s why today, before God and my family, I’m announcing I’m running for President of the United States."

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Pence is joining a growing field of Republican White House contenders that’s currently dominated by Trump – his one-time boss. Pence is the first running mate in eight decades to run against his former boss, since Vice President John Nance Garner unsuccessfully challenged President Franklin Roosevelt in the 1940 election.

Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks during U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst's Roast and Ride, Saturday, June 3, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

Pence enters the 2024 race polling the mid-single digits, far behind Trump and also significantly trailing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who trails Trump by double-digits but is firmly in second place, ahead of the former vice president and the rest of the field of actual and likely candidates.

"I’m very confident that we’ll have the support to be able to carry our message, tell our story, which is not just my years as vice president but also years as governor of a conservative state leading a conservative agenda, record employment, as also being a conservative leader in the Congress of the United States, fighting against the big spenders in my own party," Pence emphasized in a Fox News interview this past weekend.

He pledged that "we’ll have the resources to tell our story and my hope is, should we enter the race, that by the time people are making decision, we won’t just be well known, we’ll be known well. They’ll know who the Pences are. They’ll know what our values are, our sense of calling, and I’m confident we can do that."

Pence, who turns 64 on Wednesday, was Indiana governor when Trump named him his running mate in 2016. For four years, Pence served as the loyal vice president to Trump.

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However, everything changed on Jan. 6, 2021, as right-wing extremists — including some chanting "hang Mike Pence" — stormed the U.S. Capitol aiming to upend congressional certification of President Biden’s Electoral College victory that was overseen by Pence.

In the more than two years since the end of the Trump administration, the former president and vice president have drifted farther apart. Pence has rebuked his former boss, calling him out by name while discussing Trump's claim that Pence could have overturned the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Pence has described the deadly attack on the Capitol as "tragic" and that "it dishonored the millions of people who had supported our cause around the country." He has emphasized that he did "the right thing" and performed his "duty under the Constitution." He has also noted a number of times that he and Trump may never "see eye to eye on that day."

Hardcore Trump loyalists will likely never forgive Pence, whom they view as a traitor for refusing to reject the 2020 election results.

When asked in recent months about Trump, Pence has reiterated that "I think that we’ll have better choices in 2024." And in his stump speeches, he touts the Trump-Pence administration’s policy successes but contrasts himself with the controversial former president in terms of tone and tenor.

Former US President Donald Trump arrives to meet with local Republican leaders at the Machine Shed restaurant in Urbandale, Iowa, on Thursday, June 1, 2023. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"We can turn this country around. But different times call for different leadership. Today, our party and our country need a leader that will appeal, as Lincoln said, to the better angels of our nature," Pence said in his video, in an apparent swipe at Trump.

Looking ahead, Pence emphasized that "we can bring this country back. We can defend our nation and secure our border. We can revive our economy and put our nation back on a path to a balanced budget, defend our liberties and give America a new beginning for life."

He also twice in his video evoked Reagan, who remains a legend for conservatives. 

"President Reagan described us as a shining city on a hill. And above all, he called on Americans to renew optimism and believe in themselves again – to believe in each other," the former vice president said. "Every time our nation has produced leadership that has called on our country to do hard things, the American people have always risen to the challenge – and we will again. We just need government as good as our people to do it."

Former Vice President Mike Pence, sporting a motorcycle vest, prepares to ride in Sen. Joni Ernst's annual Roast and Ride, on June 3, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa (Fox News )

And Pence, who’s long been a champion for social conservatives and who’s expected to heavily court Iowa’s influential evangelical voters, stressed "I believe in the American people and I have faith – God is not done with America yet. And together we can bring this country back and the best days for the greatest nation on earth are yet to come. God bless you and God bless the United States of America." 

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The son of Indiana also spotlighted his roots and his long career in public service, saying the "land of the free – home of the brave. The United States of America. As a son of the heartland, grandson of an Irish immigrant, those aren’t just words. My family has lived the American dream. I had the great honor to serve in Congress, as governor, and as your vice president. And I’ll always be proud of the progress we made together for a stronger, more prosperous America."