Mike Pence hints at possible 2024 bid at Utah speaking engagement

Former vice-president is in the midst of a public speaking tour that has taken him to a number of early primary states

Mike Pence, the former vice-president who a pro-Trump mob hoped to hang from a Capitol Hill gibbet, teased a possible campaign to be the next Republican chief executive on Wednesday while speaking to students at Utah Valley University.

One member of the audience asked Mr Pence whether he’ll be a candidate for the Republican nomination in 2024. Though he has recently been spotted in early primary states including Iowa and New Hampshire, the former Indiana governor declined to give a definitive answer.

“I’ll keep you posted,” he said.

According to the Salt Lake Tribune, the ex-VP’s remarks to the Gary R Herbert Institute for Public Policy in Orem, Utah often took on the tone of a campaign stump speech, with Mr Pence invoking calls for stronger borders and lauding the Supreme Court’s decision to let states force women to carry unwanted pregnancies to term.

Mr Pence also told the audience of students they represent the last line of defence “for a free society in America grounded in the principles of our Constitution”.

“I truly do believe that here in the year 2022, and in the years that follow, the American people have an opportunity to restore our national unity, to rebuild the bonds that unite us and renew the promise of every American of every race and creed and color, if we build on a foundation of freedom,” he said.