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Former Vice President Mike Pence plans to launch his 2024 bid for the White House next Wednesday, a source familiar with the plans confirmed to Semafor.
Pence plans to release an announcement video accompanied by a speech in Iowa.
The decision from Pence to enter the race sets up a direct challenge against former President Donald Trump, the presumed frontrunner in the Republican primary and the man Pence served under for four years.
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Pence, who has been exploring a bid for the past several months, has criticized Trump following the Jan. 6 Capitol riots, in which Trump pressured Pence to reject the election results and falsely claimed he had the power to do so.
In March, Pence said Trump’s “reckless words endangered my family and everyone at the Capitol that day,” and that history would hold him accountable for it.
Pence was also subpoenaed to testify in the investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
His response to scandals involving his future opponent has been muted at times. The day a New York jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and defamation this month, Pence defended his former boss, telling NBC News that “in my 4½ years serving alongside the president, I never heard or witnessed behavior of that nature.”
