WASHINGTON: Republican former vice president Mike Pence launched on Monday his hotly-anticipated challenge to one-time boss Donald Trump for the party’s 2024 White House nomination, setting up the unusual scenario of two running mates becoming rivals.

Pence, a 63-year-old evangelical Christian, filed his nomination papers with the Federal Election Commission ahead of an official declaration to be made by video on Wednesday in the early voting state of Iowa — joining an already crowded primary field.

He spent his 2017-21 tenure as vice president honing his reputation as a loyal deputy who brought the religious right into the tent and who was willing to defend the president against any accusation.

But he became a pariah in Trump-world after rejecting the Republican leader’s demands that he overturns the 2020 election in his role as president of the Senate.

Berated constantly by Trump after Joe Biden’s victory — and even heckled at a conservative conference with chants of “traitor!” — Pence continued to praise the tycoon in public.

That eventually changed as Trump’s torrent of false claims of election fraud led to a mob chanting for Pence to be hanged at the US Capitol.

Since the riot, Pence has called out Trump for endangering his family and has emphasised his differences with the former president on issues ranging from the handling of Russian leader Vladimir Putin to abortion rights.

‘Christian, conservative, Republican’

Pence has spent much of the last two years touring early-nominating states such as Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire to reinforce his political vision as a “Christian, conservative, Republican — in that order.” His entry doesn’t much change the dynamics of the race, which is divided into three lanes — runaway leader Donald Trump, Trump’s closest rival Ron DeSantis, and everyone else.

Published in Dawn, June 6th, 2023