Mike Pence Didn’t File to Run for President, Spokesperson Says

Former Vice President Mike Pence gestures as he speaks during a Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nev., on Nov. 19, 2022. Wade Vandervort/AFP via Getty Images

Former Vice President Mike Pence didn’t file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) on Monday declaring his candidacy for president in 2024, a spokesperson has clarified.

An FEC filing emerged on Monday declaring the presidential candidacy of “Mike Richard Pence” for the GOP. The filings prompted some news outlets to report that Pence had declared his presidential run.

But the legitimacy of the filings was debunked by Devin O'Malley, who was press secretary for Pence when he was vice president.

“Former Vice President Mike Pence did not file to run for President today,” O'Malley wrote on Twitter.

The documentation appeared on the FEC website as “raw” filings that the commission has yet to process.

The Epoch Times contacted the FEC for comment.

The FEC filing designated “Mike Pence for President” as the candidate’s principal campaign committee. But it’s not clear who filed the paperwork.

O'Malley indicated on Twitter that the filing may have been a prank.

A filing with the FEC processed in 2016 naming Pence as the running mate of then-candidate Donald Trump listed Pence as “Michael R. Pence.”

2024 Bid

Pence hasn’t yet announced if he intends to run for president in 2024, and didn’t take audience questions about it during a Q&A in Las Vegas while on his book tour in November.

He has hinted that he might, telling supporters in November that he was giving the decision “prayerful consideration.”

“I think we’ll have better choices in the future. For me and my family, we’ll be reflecting about what our role is in that,” he told ABC’s “World News Tonight.”

Trump, before announcing his 2024 presidential bid after the midterms, said in October that his cabinet officials who make a White House bid would be “very disloyal.”

Other key GOP figures expected to run for president in 2024 include Mike Pompeo, former secretary of state, and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.

“Many of them have said they would never run if I run, so we’ll see whether or not that turns out to be true,” Trump told Fox News on Oct. 20. “I think it would be very disloyal if they did,” he added.

Pence has distanced himself from Trump since he certified the 2020 election results, which Trump disputed.