Pompeo to visit New Hampshire amid 2024 speculation

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit New Hampshire next month amid speculation over a potential 2024 presidential bid.

Pompeo on Sept. 20 will appear at the “Politics & Eggs” speaking series, a mainstay of the campaign trail for presidential hopefuls looking to build their profiles in the first-in-the-nation primary state.

He will become the latest high-profile Republican to speak at the event, hosted by the New England Council and the New Hampshire Institute of Politics and Political Library at Saint Anselm College.

Other potential Republican presidential candidates who have appeared at the event in recent months include former Vice President Mike Pence and Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Since leaving the State Department upon President Biden’s inauguration, Pompeo has visited both New Hampshire and Iowa, the first two states to vote in the presidential primary season.

After serving as the director of the CIA and secretary of State, Pompeo formed a political action committee dubbed Champion American Values PAC, through which he has endorsed Republican candidates in the November midterm elections.

Pompeo earned a reputation as a loyal adviser to former President Trump, but since leaving the administration he has at times used the PAC in opposition to Trump.

In Pennsylvania’s GOP Senate primary, Pompeo backed former hedge fund CEO David McCormick and raised concerns about celebrity physician Mehmet Oz, who won the nomination after being backed by Trump.

The former president is widely speculated to be considering a third presidential bid, and Trump himself has said he has made up his mind on a decision.

Trump has continued to hold a grip on the GOP since leaving the White House, with roughly 6 in 10 Republicans saying Trump should be the party’s nominee in 2024, according to a USA Today-Ipsos poll released on Sunday.

Pompeo, however, has repeatedly indicated his decision about running will not depend on others potential candidates’ plans, including during a Fox News interview in April and while speaking with reporters in South Carolina last week.

“The Pompeos have always used the simple fact of do you believe this is the moment where you think you can best serve America, this is the place you can have the most impact,” Pompeo told Fox News in April. “That will be how we make our decision in the end.”

Beyond his repeated visits to early primary states, Pompeo’s committee released an ad in June that ran on digital platforms in Iowa and South Carolina. The ad promoted religious freedom and was released minutes after the Supreme Court ruled in a major school prayer case.

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