Pence Hears Calls to Consider a 2028 Run After GOP Midterm Rout

Asked whether last week’s Republican midterm defeats had changed his mind about another White House bid, Mike Pence told Fox News Digital he had been “very humbled” by the outreach but would not set a timeline.

The interview, his first after the elections, was released Thursday by Fox News Digital reporter Paul Steinhauser. In September, Pence had said he had “no plans” to run in 2028.

Calls From Around the Country

Steinhauser asked whether Republican donors, activists and friends had urged him to reconsider.

Pence did not name those groups. “We’ve been hearing from a lot of people around the country. I’ve been very humbled by that,” he said.

He added: “I don’t know what the future holds, but all of my energies, all of my focus and my calling now is to be a champion and an advocate for the conservative principles that have defined our party.”

Pence suspended a 2024 presidential campaign on Oct. 28, 2023.

After a Midterm Reckoning

Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate last week, flipping seats in states that had backed President Donald Trump in 2024, including Texas, South Carolina and Kansas.

Pence called the result “the wreckage of the 2026 midterm elections” and said “this version of Republicanism was just rejected by the American people.” In the written account of the same interview, he said the defeat “wasn’t just a rout, it was a reckoning.”

He also rejected Vice President JD Vance’s claim that the Iran war alone explained the losses, saying the reasons were “much more complex.”

Focus Before a Candidate

Pence said the “most important thing” was winning the presidency in 2028, and that Republicans should “focus first on what we’re for before we focus on who we’re for.”

That work, he said, would continue through Advancing American Freedom, the conservative advocacy group he founded.

“If we don’t return the Republican Party to the principles of a strong defense, limited government, fiscal responsibility and the right to life, it won’t matter who we nominate in 2028,” he said.

No Endorsement for 2028

Asked whether he could support Vance or Marco Rubio if he does not run, Pence declined to back either man.

He said he would look for leaders who embrace what he called the party’s “historic traditional conservative agenda,” and argued that the midterms had delivered “a verdict” on the “populist right.”

Vance and Rubio already rank among the early 2028 Republican names.

“I don’t know what the future holds for some of my friends and colleagues or for me and for my family,” Pence said. “If we do return to those principles I think we win the presidency in 2028.”