NEVADA, Iowa — Former Vice President Mike Pence remains confident he will qualify for next month’s first Republican primary debate, despite not yet meeting the donor threshold.
“I don’t think it has taken that long,” Pence told the Washington Examiner. “Look, I accept the challenge… I’m also grateful for the fact that we easily clear the polling requirement.”
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“We’re maybe a couple of weeks away,” he said, contending the criteria is “somewhat new.”
“We’ll get there, but our focus is not on reaching some arbitrary goal set by the Republican National Committee. It’s about telling our story here in Iowa like we were last week telling our story in New Hampshire.”
Pence has previously said that he attracts 1,000 donors a day, repeating that he is “closing-in” on the Republican National Committee‘s 40,000 unique donor standard, and is “confident” there will be 200 people each from 20 different states or territories.
“People look at our career, look at our consistent conservative record, and they know that that’s the voice that belongs in that debate,” he said. “So I’m grateful for that support.”
Distinguishing himself from his one-time boss, Pence compared former President Donald Trump‘s spending to that of President Joe Biden, as he underscored his desire to reform entitlement programs and his opposition to abortion. He additionally criticized Biden for his delayed decision to acknowledge his illegitimate granddaughter.
The former vice president, too, defended his belief transgender service members should not be permitted in the armed forces as military leaders express concerns about recruitment.
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“Our administration banned transgender personnel from the American military, really as a function of addressing readiness and unit cohesion,” he said. “I think the idea of admitting people who would begin a multi-year process of going through a gender transition, chemical or surgically, people that would not be deployable during that period time makes no sense.”
As it stands, Trump has an average of 52% support, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) has 18%, Pence and biotechnology entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy have 5%, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has 4%, and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) has 3%, according to RealClearPolitics.
