Former Vice President Mike Pence will hold a rally for Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Monday, the eve of the Peach State’s Republican primary, cementing his break from former President Donald Trump and laying the groundwork for a possible 2024 White House run.
“Heading to the Great State of Georgia today to Support my good friend @BrianKempGA
for 4 More Years as Governor of the Peach State! See You Soon!” the former veep tweeted Monday morning.
While Pence appears at the Cobb County Airport in Kennesaw on behalf of Kemp, Trump will hold a tele-rally for former Sen. David Perdue to show his support despite Perdue’s tumble in the polls.
According to the RealClear Politics average, Kemp holds a 25 percentage point lead over his challenger, who has backed Trump’s claim that the 2020 presidential election was stolen through voter fraud.
A Trump spokesman ripped into Pence Monday, accusing him of desperately trying to cling to political relevancy.
“Mike Pence was set to lose a governor’s race in 2016 before he was plucked up and his political career was salvaged,” Taylor Budowich said in a statement to the New York Times.
“Now, desperate to chase his lost relevance, Pence is parachuting into races, hoping someone is paying attention. The reality is, President Trump is already 82-3 with his endorsements, and there’s nothing stopping him from saving America in 2022 and beyond,” it continued.
Trump turned against Kemp following his 2020 loss to Joe Biden, blaming him for not overturning election results in the state.
Pence in turn refused to overturn the results when Congress convened on Jan. 6, 2021, declaring his intention to certify the Electoral College results giving Biden the win — even as a mob of pro-Trump supporters stormed Capitol Hill.
The former Indiana governor has repeatedly declined to rule himself out of the running for the 2024 GOP nomination, and did the same in an interview with the Times published Monday.
“We’ll go where we’re called,” Pence told the newspaper last month prior to a speech in Iowa, referring to prayer. “That’s the way Karen and I have always approached these things.”
Pence added that in his travels around the country after leaving office, he has been taken aback by the outpouring of support he received for not doing Trump’s bidding on Jan. 6.
“I have been very moved traveling around the country how much people have made a point to express appreciation,” he said. “It has been very humbling to me.”