Former vice president Mike Pence is suspending his bid to be the 2024 GOP nominee for president of the United States, following months of financial troubles and lagging polls.
Pence made the surprise announcement at the end of a speech given before the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual conference in Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon.
“After much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today,” Pence said. “We always knew this would be an uphill battle, but I have no regrets.”
Pence launched his bid in early June but had struggled to raise money from the start. According to filings with the Federal Election Commission, his campaign was $620,000 in debt entering October and had just $1.2 million cash on hand at the start of the month. While Pence met the donor threshold for the first two debates, he had not yet gained the 70,000 donors needed to qualify for the third debate.
The former vice president was trailing key candidates throughout his campaign. The latest polls showed him under 4 percent both nationally and in the upcoming Iowa Caucus. Donald Trump remains streets ahead of the field, followed by Florida governor Ron DeSantis, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
“I’m leaving this campaign, but let me promise you, I will never leave the fight for conservative values and I will never stop fighting to elect principled Republican leaders to every office in the land,” Pence said. “So help me God.”
