Yahoo News Applause, White House Buzz for Mike Pence at Meeting with Conservatives in Congress: 'More of You in 2024'
Joshua Roberts/Getty Images Mike Pence
Mike Pence for president? The buzz is growing louder after the former vice president returned to Capitol Hill for the first time since leaving office in 2021.
Attendees at a breakfast meeting of the Republican Study Committee on Wednesday applauded Pence and thanked him for his actions on Jan. 6, 2021, according to various reports.
A plot to overturn the 2020 presidential election failed in part because the then-vice president refused to object to the official electoral vote count during a joint session of Congress that day, even as pro-Donald Trump rioters chanted for Pence to hang while the U.S. Capitol was engulfed in violence.
"He was congratulated for showing the courage that he did on January 6, and frankly, everyone in the room clapped, myself included," Rep. Dan Meuser, a Pennsylvania Republican said, according to The Hill. "It was, of course, what he should have done. I mean, it was the constitutional thing to do."
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Rep. Don Bacon, a Nebraska Republican, told CNN that members of the Republican Study Committee — the largest conservative caucus in Congress, which Pence once led — expressed their support for his potential presidential bid in 2024.
MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Donald Trump (left) and Mike Pence in April 2020
"People said they hope he's going to be a big voice in 2024," Bacon said, CNN reports. "He was being encouraged: 'We need more of you in 2024,'" he added. "And I would agree."
Another Republican, Washington state Rep. Dan Newhouse, said the possibility of Pence running for the White House came up multiple times.
(Trump's name, however, did "not really" come up, Meuser said.)
But the former vice president told GOP lawmakers in the closed-door meeting that his focus was on helping the party win in the upcoming November midterm elections, offering to campaign for fellow Republicans, attendees told CNN.
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"Let me just say: The vice president is a real moral force in our party," Rep. Andy Barr, a Kentucky Republican, said, according to CNN. "He's a real true leader, and he's earned the respect of Republicans and other Americans all over the country."
A source tells the news network that the former vice president has not yet "firmly" decided about a 2024 campaign.
He's reportedly waiting until after the midterms to make a call, according to the AP.
Other Republicans appear open to a Pence candidacy or are at least indicating that Trump's nomination — if and when he announces he'll run again — is not a forgone conclusion.
Michael Conroy/AP/Shutterstock From left: Karen and Mike Pence
"I think we're going to have a crowded field for president," Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on Tuesday.
"The more the merrier," Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah said, according to the AP.
Texas Republican Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a member of the conservative Republican Study Committee, said he does not believe Trump would be an automatic frontrunner in the race for the White House.
The party has a "lot of good options," he told CNN, adding that he hopes "they all jump in."
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As the House committee on Jan. 6 continues its inquiry and shares findings publicly during televised hearings — and the Department of Justice investigates behind closed doors — Trump's candidacy could launch with some hefty baggage.
As Crenshaw put it, according to CNN, picking a Republican nominee who ends up under an indictment would "suck."
