Trans athletes threaten US values, says Mike Pence on launch of presidential bid
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Mike Pence took on the issue of trans swimmers as he launched his presidential bid, describing them as a threat to America’s “timeless values”.
Mr Pence became the first vice-president in modern history to take on his former running mate for the White House. Mention of Donald Trump was conspicuously absent from his campaign announcement video.
Instead, it featured footage of trans swimmer Lia Thomas, and the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan.
His focus on the trans issue is the latest indication that the campaign will be dominated by the culture wars in the US. Mr Trump’s main rival in opinion polls, Ron DeSantis, has also declared a “war on woke”.
In his campaign video, Mr Pence said: “Timeless American values are under assault as never before. We’re better than this. President Joe Biden and the radical Left have weakened America at home and abroad.”
Mr Pence opened his bid for the Republican nomination for president on Wednesday with a firm denunciation of the former president, accusing his two-time running mate of abandoning conservative principles and being guilty of dereliction of duty on Jan 6, 2021.
Mr Pence said that day Mr Trump “demanded I choose between him and our Constitution. Now voters will be faced with the same choice.”
Launching his campaign at a community college in a suburb of Des Moines, Mr Pence became the first vice president in modern history to challenge the president under whom he served.
“I believe anyone that puts themselves over the Constitution should never be president of the United States, and anyone who asks someone else to put them over the Constitution should never be president of the United States again,” he said.
Mr Pence also accused Mr Trump of “retreating from the cause of the unborn” with his stance on abortion.
He said the Republican Party and America needed a candidate who would appeal to the “better angels of our nature”.
He added: “We can turn this country around. But different times call for different leadership. Together, we can bring this country back, and the best for the greatest nation on Earth [is] yet to come.”
Mr Pence said the “American dream is being crushed” by inflation and falling wages, and that the southern border was “under siege” and the “the enemies of freedom are on the march around the world”.
Polls show Mr Pence has only 4 per cent support in the race for the Republican nomination. He is in fourth place behind Mr Trump, Florida governor Mr DeSantis, and Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor.
Mr Pence, an evangelical Christian who supports a national ban on abortion, will focus his campaign on Iowa, the first state to vote in late January or early February 2024. Iowa has a large evangelical Christian population and he will hope to pick up strong support there.
In his video, Mr Pence, 64, said: “Today, before God and my family, I’m announcing I’m running for president of the United States. I believe in the American people, and I have faith God is not done with America yet.”
He said it would be “easy to stay on the sidelines”, but “that’s not how I was raised”.
As vice-president, Mr Pence was unfailingly loyal to Mr Trump for four years as he went through a series of scandals. His inclusion on the Trump ticket also helped draw in support from religious conservatives.
But the two men parted ways after Mr Trump pressured Mr Pence to use his role as president of the Senate to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
Mr Pence has since been called a “traitor” by some of Mr Trump’s most diehard supporters. A recent poll found 45 per cent of Republicans said they would not support Mr Pence as the party’s 2024 nominee under any circumstances.
The former vice-president announced his presidential tilt a day after Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor, joined the contest.
Tim Scott, the South Carolina senator, and Asa Hutchinson, the former Arkansas governor, have also joined the race, and Doug Burgum, the North Dakota governor, is also expected to do so.
Mr Pence was previously governor of the midwestern state of Indiana, and his team believes that will serve him well in Iowa, also a midwestern state.
Scott Reed, co-chairman of a political action committee supporting Mr Pence’s candidacy, said: “We believe the path to victory runs through Iowa and all of its 99 counties.”
Iowa has in the past been a launching pad for presidential campaigns that perform well there, giving them momentum and helping to attract more donors.
