MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 03rd June, 2023) Former US Vice President Mike Pence joining the fight to be Republican presidential candidate is likely to help his former boss Donald Trump to secure the GOP nomination while Pence's own chances to win it are quite slim, experts told Sputnik.
NBC news reported on Wednesday, citing a person familiar with the matter, that Pence was expected to announce his 2024 presidential campaign as early as June 7. On the same day, Axios reported that former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was about to officially join the race on June 6. So far, the Republican roster includes figures like former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, ex-Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, multibillionaire Vivek Ramaswamy, Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
Despite Pence having been Trump's running mate in 2016 and 2020 as well as his vice president, things have soured between the two of them over Pence's refusal to overturn his 2020 election loss. Since then, Pence has also testified to a Federal grand jury investigating the January 6 riot in Washington, D.C. and the actions of Trump and his associates.
"Although Pence may have no affection for his former boss, his presence in the race for the Republican presidential nomination will definitely help Trump. Pence will assist in dividing the non- and anti-Trump vote in his party, and his major contribution may be aiding, however slightly, Trump's nomination next year," Paul Gottfried, the editor-in-chief of "Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture" and Raffensperger professor of humanities emeritus at Elizabethtown College, said.
The expert went on to express his doubts regarding Pence's ability to poll over 1% or 2% as "he is an exceedingly dull candidate."
"Christie by contrast could do some damage to Trump's candidacy, and I suspect that he's entered the race with that in mind since he has zero chance of being nominated," Gottfried concluded.
When asked if Pence could potentially undermine Trump's main rival DeSantis, political analyst Keith Preston noted that the former vice president's following is largely limited to the evangelicals and hardcore opponents of abortion, while the support for DeSantis comes from a wide variety of groups within the Republican coalition.
"I don't know that Pence being in the race will be any more harmful to DeSantis than it would be to Trump. Pence may draw evangelical votes from DeSantis. But Pence could also draw votes from those who are pleased with the performance of the Trump administration but are disdainful of some of Trump's antics, particularly stolen election claims, the J6 incident, and his mounting legal battles," Preston continued.
He also suggested that many of those who run for president do it "to raise funds and jockey for positions, whether as VP or another position in a future administration or the private sector."
