Former Vice President Mike Pence said Sunday he doesn’t plan to run for president again, but hopes to remain “a voice for conservative values.”
“I don’t see that in my future,” Pence said on NBC’s Meet the Press. “I don’t see it, but we’ll keep standing up for everything we’ve always stood for, and we’ll let the future take care of itself.”
The 65-year-old former Indiana governor still expressed interest in contributing to conservative policy, even after losing the GOP presidential nomination last year.
“I want to be a voice for conservative values. I want to be a voice for the policies and liberties enshrined in the Constitution of the United States,” Pence said. “I want to be a champion of the conservative cause, and that’s where I’ll stay focused, and we’ll let the future take care of itself.”
Pence, who served as President Donald Trump’s second-in-command during his first term, has become more critical of Trump after he refused to concede to former President Joe Biden following his win in 2020.
Even though it ended on a sour note, Pence defended their administration’s record and said he was proud of the work they had accomplished.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the record of the Trump-Pence administration. I mean, it didn’t end the way I wanted it to, but what we were able to do to rebuild our military, to revive our economy, to appoint conservatives to our courts that gave us a new beginning for the right to life and upheld religious liberty and all are going to be a source of great satisfaction for the rest of my life,” Pence added.
When asked who Trump’s successor may be, Pence declined to provide an answer – but took the opportunity to swipe at the Democrats for their lack of star candidates.
“We have a very deep bench on the Republican side, which is a little bit different than the Democratic Party these days,” Pence said.
He continued: “We’ve got a lot of great men and women, and for my part, my goal is to make sure that whoever leads our party in the future, that’s someone who embraces that broad, mainstream conservative agenda that’s always made America strong and prosperous and free.”
