LEXINGTON — As he ponders a presidential run, Mike Pence paid a visit Tuesday to a place with a reputation for predicting who will win their party’s nomination in seeking to regain the White House.
The former Republican vice president spoke in a packed University Chapel at Washington and Lee University about a wide range of political issues confronting the country, but declined to make an announcement when asked several times.
But if he were to declare his candidacy for U.S. president, Pence said, he couldn’t think of a better place to do it than the home of the famous Mock Convention, a student-run event with an uncanny record of correctly forecasting who will be the nominee for the party out of power.
Discussions are underway about “whether we might be one of the people that Mock Convention is talking about” next year, Pence told the crowd. “I promise, I’ll keep you posted.”
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While declining to say whether he will run, the man who served as vice president during the Donald Trump administration showed no hesitation in weighing in on a number of issues that could be shaped in the Oval Office.
At a time when polls show that some Republicans are questioning America’s support for Ukraine in what appears to be an entrenched war, Pence said providing military aid is imperative.
“The war in Ukraine is not a territorial dispute,” he said. “It is a Russian invasion. And the United States of America as the leader of the free world, and the arsenal of democracy, needs to continue to remain committed to providing the courageous Ukrainian military with the resources they need to repel the Russian invasion.”
Citing the doctrine of former President Ronald Reagan, he said: “Ukraine is not our war. But freedom is our fight.”
Pence also sounded other popular Republican themes, including the fight against abortion, reducing the national deficit, cutting government spending, and restoring an economy he said has been devastated by inflation caused by the presidency of Joe Biden.
Asked about Trump’s announcement that he will seek another term, Pence said that while he was proud of the policy accomplishments under the former president, it was time to move on.
“I think different times call for different leaders, and for different leadership in America,” he said.
“I’m proud of the record of the Trump-Pence administration. Obviously it didn’t end well, and it ended in controversy,” he said, a reference to the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capital over an election Trump claimed without evidence was stolen from him.
“But at the end of the day, I believe he was the right man at the right time to lead America,” Pence said, explaining that he believed Trump was the only Republican who could have defeated Hillary Clinton.
At the time of Tuesday’s speech in Lexington, speculation was growing that Trump would be indicted by a New York grand jury on charges of paying hush money to a porn star in the closing days of the 2016 presidential race to stay quiet about her alleged affair with him.
Pence said he would not encourage Trump’s supporters to protest, as the former president has called on them to do if in fact he is indicted.
But “I understand the frustration,” he said of a prosecution that “reeks” of politics.
Throughout his speech, and in a question-and-answer session afterward with Fox News chief political anchor Bret Bair, the former vice president spoke of the need for a return to civility in politics.
“I think there’s a real desire across the country to elevate the debate and to introduce a new level of civility in public life,” he said. In that environment, he said, he trusted Americans to make the right choice, should Trump again be the Republican nominee.
“I just think we’re going to have better choices,” he said.
Tuesday’s event was a lead up to next year’s 2024 Mock Convention at W&L. Since the convention — more commonly known as Mock Con — was first held in 1908, the student-run organization has an accuracy rate of 74%, which it says makes it the most reliable word on who will win the nomination in the coming months.
Four years ago, its pick of Bernie Sanders proved to be only the third wrong choice since 1948, and the seventh overall, to emerge from months of studying polls, interviewing political experts and conducting other research.
That reputation has made it a closely watched event nationally. Five U.S. presidents have traveled to Lexington to address the convention, as well as a number of vice presidents.
When it comes to forecasting who will win the Republican nomination, Mock Con has gotten it right every time for the past 75 years.
“I know we will win back America come 2024,” Pence said. “And I know Mock Con will show us the way.”
