Former Vice President Mike Pence and NJ Gov. Chris Christie to join 2024 Republican race

Pence will launch his campaign in Iowa on June 7, which will bring him into conflict with his former boss, according to sources close to Pence’s campaign.

For four years, he was Trump’s loyal lieutenant, serving as vice president until the Capitol riots of 2021 and their relationship broke down.

Pence, the son of a Korean War veteran, started his conservative political career as a talk show host.

Elected to the House of Representatives in 2000, where he served until 2013, he described himself as a “principled conservative” aligned with the Tea Party movement.

He served as Governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017. During his tenure, he passed the largest tax cut in state history and signed bills restricting abortion and protecting religious freedom.

Pence, 63, is an evangelical Christian whose participation in the 2016 presidential campaign is believed to have helped mobilize key voters to support Trump.

Calm and soft-spoken, he is seen as an effective surrogate for the bombastic president. But Trump accused him of lacking “courage” after he refused to help overturn the results of the 2020 election.

Pro-Trump mobs stormed the U.S. Capitol in January 2021 and were heard chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” At one point they reportedly came within 40 feet (12 meters) of the vice president.

The two have largely kept their distance since then, but Pence has been careful not to alienate Trump-friendly voters.

The former New Jersey governor plans to announce his candidacy on June 6 at a town hall event in New Hampshire, where the first Republican primary will be held, according to multiple sources.

After an unsuccessful 2016 presidential bid, Christie allied with Trump to lead the then-incoming president’s transition team and prepare for his 2020 debate with Biden.

But since the riots in the U.S. Capitol, he has vigorously criticized Trump.

The sharp-tongued Christie previewed his attack on Trump at a town hall in New Hampshire in April, saying: “Donald Trump is a TV star and that’s all. If you put him back in the White House, things will change.” Bad.”

From 2010 to 2018, Christie served two terms as governor of New Jersey. His tenure has been overshadowed by a political scandal involving the closure of bridge lanes, an incident alleged in part to a political feud against a Democratic mayor.

Before being elected governor, Christie served as New Jersey’s attorney general under President George W Bush from 2002 to 2008.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has been trying to emulate Trump, is seen as the candidate best equipped to beat him in a head-to-head contest.

With Trump’s support, he won the governorship and was easily re-elected in last year’s midterm elections by more than 1.5 million votes, the largest margin in the state in more than 40 years. For the first time during his tenure, Republican voters outnumbered Democrats in the state.

DeSantis, 44, is a lawyer after graduating from Harvard and Yale but is still a relative newcomer to American politics.

He served in the U.S. Navy and traveled to Iraq. He was also a little-known member of the House of Representatives from 2013 to 2018.

But since becoming governor in 2019, DeSantis has seen a surge in attention, positioning himself as an ardent culture warrior.

He supports legislation to defund diversity and inclusion programs, ban the teaching of gender identity in public schools, ban drag shows and gendered care of minors, limit abortion and relax gun laws. He is also embroiled in a legal battle with the state’s Disney World park.

The governor has touted his record as a “blueprint” for conservative leadership, while supporters say he offers a less dramatic replacement for a former president seeking renomination.

Trump seems to be very concerned about this, attacking him on social media almost every day.

Senator Tim Scott, with decades of political experience in South Carolina, ran in May with nearly $22m (£18m) in cash on hand, more than his rival.

The 57-year-old is the only black person to serve in both houses of Congress and has represented South Carolina in the Senate since 2013.

The grandson of cotton field workers and the son of a single mother, Mr Scott often speaks of how his family “went from the cotton field to Congress”.

As he ran for president in 2024, he vowed to turn around a “regressive nation” and revive America’s “great culture.”

He was popular among colleagues and was quickly endorsed by two senators, including John Thune, the No. 2 Senate Republican.

But he’s not the only top South Carolina Republican in the running.

Nikki Haley announced her candidacy for president in mid-February, becoming the first major Republican candidate to commit to taking on Trump.

Haley, 51, was once considered one of the Republican Party’s most promising young candidates but has kept a low profile in recent years.

Born in South Carolina to a family of Punjabi Sikh immigrants, Haley became the youngest governor of the United States in 2009.

In 2015, she drew national attention by calling for the removal of the Confederate flag from the South Carolina Capitol.

Although she said in 2016 that she was “not a Trump fan,” she later accepted Trump’s nomination to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. During her tenure, she made a dramatic exit when the Palestinian envoy addressed a meeting of the UN Security Council.

Her campaign has included calls for mandatory mental ability tests for politicians over the age of 75 and has emphasized the need for a “new generation” of American leaders.

Vivek Ramaswamy, 37, announced his entry into the race as a dark horse in an interview with Fox News Channel in late February.

An Indian-American biotech entrepreneur with no political experience, he was a regular on Fox host Tucker Carlson’s The Daily Show, once the most-watched cable news show in the country.

The Harvard and Yale graduate believes the United States is in a crisis of national identity due to the decline of faith, patriotism and elitism.

From 2014 to 2021, he ran a pharmaceutical company before co-founding Strive Asset Management, which eschewed a “divisive” environmental, social and governance (ESG) framework , and sees itself as an alternative to big names like Blackrock.

Mr. Ramaswamy is also the author of Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam.

Asa Hutchinson, the two-term governor of Arkansas, announced her run for president in an interview with ABC News in April. The announcement came days after Trump was charged with criminal charges in New York.

Hutchinson, 72, called the case “a nuisance and a distraction” that should push Trump out of the race.

The former lawyer and businessman was the youngest federal prosecutor in the United States during the Ronald Reagan administration.

He also served two terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, including as a prosecutor in Bill Clinton’s impeachment trial and as head of the Drug Enforcement Administration under George W. Bush.

Calling himself a “non-Trump” candidate with experience and a track record of leading multiple roles, he has vowed to lean toward “common sense, consistent conservatism.”

The conservative radio talk show host unsuccessfully ran on a 2021 campaign for governor of California on a promise to repeal mask and vaccine regulations.

Elder, 71, a lawyer who grew up in South Central Los Angeles, blasted Democrats for their “woke up” agenda and claims of systemic racism.

He announced his campaign plan on Twitter: “America is declining, but this decline is not inevitable.” His plan seems to be bleak.

Glenn Youngkin shocked the Republican Party by winning the Virginia gubernatorial race in 2021. A political novice with 25 years at the private equity firm Carlyle Group, he beat someone who had been in Democratic politics since the 1980s.

In a state that has leaned Democratic in recent years, Yangkin criticized partisan politics as “too toxic” and campaigned on a bipartisan tone.

But since his first day in office, the 55-year-old governor has dabbled in hot topics, from rolling back the state’s Covid-19 restrictions to banning the teaching of critical race theory in schools.

After saying he would not run for president in 2024, Yangkin is reportedly reconsidering his bid, citing increased donor interest in non-Trump candidates.

Businessman Perry Johnson, 75, who tried to run for governor of Michigan last year but was disqualified, joined the race in March.

He is touting a plan to revive the economy by cutting federal spending by 2% a year.

Chris Sununu: Allies of the moderate Republican say he is exploring avenues for a campaign. Sununu served as governor of New Hampshire from 2011 to 2017 and is popular with voters.

Doug Burgum: The former software executive who is now the governor of North Dakota has filmed TV ads for a possible presidential campaign.

Francis Suarez: The Cuban-born mayor of Miami, the first U.S. politician to receive a salary in cryptocurrency, is considering running for office, describing himself as “the one who needs to get the country better informed.” people”.

Will Hurd: The former Texas congressman who retired from the U.S. House in 2021 says the 2024 rematch between Trump and President Biden is a ‘rematch from hell’ “, few Americans want to see.

Liz Cheney: Daughter of former Vice President Dick Cheney. Once a rising star in the Republican Party, she lost her House seat in 2021 because of her strong opposition to Trump.

Greg Abbott: The Texas governor is regularly embroiled in national debates on immigration, abortion and gun rights.

Larry Hogan: The Democrat-friendly former governor of Maryland said he doesn’t want to be the guy who helped Trump get re-elected, and there are already plenty of them.

Ted Cruz: The Texas senator finished second behind Trump in the 2016 Republican primary but says he will run for reelection in 2024 .

Rick Scott: The Florida senator has often gone head-to-head with President Biden, but said he’s running for reelection.