Pence leaves door open to a 2028 White House run and warns Republicans after midterm disaster

Former Vice President Mike Pence is not ruling out another run for the White House in 2028. He told Fox News Digital that he has heard from people across the country about a potential presidential bid. The remarks came in his first interview since the midterm elections.

Pence unsuccessfully campaigned for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. At an event in September at the Economic Club of Washington, he had said he had "no plans" to run for president or any other elected office in 2028. This time, however, he appeared to leave the door open to another White House bid. "We've been hearing from a lot of people around the country. I've been very humbled by that," he said.

Pence did not reveal any timeline for making a 2028 decision. Instead, he repeatedly emphasised that "the most important thing is that we win the presidency in 2028. And to do that, I think it will be essential that we focus first on what we're for before we focus on who we're for."

Pence also delivered a warning to his party following the Republicans' severe setbacks in the 2026 midterm elections, which saw the Democrats win a large House majority and also regain control of the Senate. He argued that Republicans risk another defeat unless they abandon departures from the traditional conservative principles that have defined the party for decades.

He partially blamed the midterm shellacking on what he argues is President Donald Trump's second-term retreat from conservative principles towards a populist agenda. Pence, who served as Trump's first-term vice president, claimed that "this version of Republicanism was just rejected by the American people" in what he called "the wreckage of the 2026 midterm elections."

"The truth is, 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," Pence said.

Highlighting that Advancing American Freedom, his policy and advocacy organisation, has dramatically expanded over the past year, Pence said he would continue to lean into advocating the broad mainstream conservative agenda that has defined the Republican Party for the last 50 years. "I don't know what the future holds," he said, "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."

Asked whether, if he does not run, he could support Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio if either seeks the Republican nomination, Pence answered: "What I'm gonna be looking for is men and women who embrace that historic traditional conservative agenda of the Republican Party."

He argued that there are a lot of folks on the populist right who suggest that people who hew to the old Reagan tradition don't know what time it is — and that the midterm elections have given a verdict on their approach to Republicanism.

Asked for comment, White House spokesman Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital: "Mike Pence's total and complete lack of courage caused untold damage to our great country. If Republican voters cared what Mike Pence had to say, he wouldn't have had to drop out of the presidential race months before the Iowa caucuses."