Pence stakes claim as Republicans’ saviour in 2024

Donald Trump’s former deputy hopes his brand of religious conservatism will appeal to sections of the Republican right the former president has alienated.

Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the conservative Heritage Foundation think tank in Washington, DC. Picture: AFP

Mike Pence has used a speech at a think tank to stake his claim as an alternative to Donald Trump, in the hope that his brand of religious conservatism will propel him to the Republican nomination in 2024.

Mr Pence, 63, who served as Mr Trump’s deputy between 2017 and last year, fell out with the former president, 76, who is still the favourite to be the party’s candidate in two years’ time. However, by endorsing conservative candidates in this year’s midterm elections, the former vice president hopes to appeal to sections of the Republican right alienated by Mr Trump.

In a speech on Wednesday to the conservative Heritage Foundation in Washington, Mr Pence wasted little time in taking credit for the administration he served, while trashing President Joe Biden’s record.

“When I arrived in Washington 20 years ago I didn’t think I’d live to see the day when our leadership in the capital was more out of touch with the common sense and the common values of the American people,” he said.

“Liberal policies have created one disaster after another in the history of this nation, but none more so than in the last two years.”

He attacked Biden’s economic performance, saying the President was responsible for 40-year-high inflation and a border security crisis that was the worst in American history.

Without naming Mr Trump, he championed the former administration’s record on the economy and on foreign affairs, pointing out that the period he was in office was the only time Russian President Vladimir Putin had not attacked a foreign country this century.

Mr Pence said that only Republicans could restore conservative values and that he was confident that the party would control the two houses of congress after the midterm election on November 8. The latest polls suggest that the Democrats may hold on to the Senate.

Former US President Donald Trump speaks during a Save America rally in Warren, Michigan earlier this month. Picture: AFP

Quoting the Bible at least twice, Mr Pence said that the Supreme Court “had sent Roe v Wade to the ash heap of history, where it belongs”, a reference to the court’s decision in June to sweep away national abortion rights.

Mr Pence has done little to dismiss claims that he is in the race for the Republican nomination in 2024 but faces a struggle to dislodge Mr Trump and a clutch of others waiting in the wings if the former president decides not to run.

Mr Trump claimed that his former vice president “committed political suicide” when he affirmed Mr Biden’s 2020 election victory. In the 21 months since, however, Mr Pence has become a sought after endorsement for Republican candidates standing in competitive races across the country.

The former Indiana governor has distanced himself from his former boss. Some candidates believe he can act as a ballast and appeal to voters inclined to back the Republicans but who are put off by Mr Trump’s brand of politics.

– The Times