Pence 2024 news - live: Former Vice President Mike Pence launches presidential campaign against Trump

Former vice president Mike Pence on Wednesday announced that he is entering the running for the 2024 presidential election, setting up a heated competition for the Republican nomination with former president Donald Trump.

In a launch video for his campaign, Mr Pence said a “different leadership” could turn the country around to prevent the American dream from being “crushed”.

“Today our party and our country need a leader that will appeal, as Lincoln said, to the better angels of our nature,” Mr Pence continued.

While the video highlights Mr Pence’s work as vice president, it avoids making a single mention of the man he served during that period – Mr Trump.

In an increasingly crowded GOP field, Mr Pence faces competition from fellow ex-Trump administration figures, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Mr Pence served as a member of the House of Representatives between 2001 and 2013 and as Indiana’s governor between 2013 and 2017, but rose to international attention as Mr Trump’s running-mate in 2016.

He is the first vice president in modern US history to run against his former running mate.

15:50 , Oliver O'Connell

Having filed the necessary paperwork, Mr Pence’s first official event is a CNN town hall live this evening at 9pm on the network.

Perhaps the most pressing question for the former vice president is how he will separate himself from his former boss, Donald Trump and his close association with the one-term president.

He must also differentiate himself from the growing field of GOP candidates.

Pence launches 2024 campaign

15:34 , Oliver O'Connell

Good morning, welcome to our rolling coverage of former Vice President Mike Pence’s 2024 campaign launch.

Mr Pence enters a crowded field of Republican candidates vying for the party’s nomination to lead them against President Joe Biden when he seeks a second term.

The former vice president had begun his campaign with a distinctly Reaganesque video in which he makes no mention of former president Donald Trump.

Mr Pence is the first candidate to run against their former running mate in modern US history.