Mike Pence formally enters the 2024 race and challenges Trump

Former Vice President Mike Pence filed paperwork on Monday announcing his presidential candidacy, beginning a long-running campaign against the former president he served under, Donald J. Trump.

Mr. Pence, who has filed the necessary paperwork to serve on the Federal Elections Commission, has entered the single digits in every public inquiry held to date, far behind Mr. Trump, who has served the Republican Party for the past seven years reformed.

The former vice president is expected to formally announce his campaign at a rally in Des Moines on Wednesday, one day after former Gov. Chris Christie is expected to enter the race and the same day North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum will run.

Pence plans to campaign extensively in Iowa, the first nominating state and a place where his conservative stances on issues such as abortion could appeal to evangelical voters.

Advisers to Mr. Pence, a former Indiana governor, see Iowa as geographically welcoming to the kind of conservatism he practiced before the Trump era. And he’s wagering that enough remnants of the old Republican Party will remain to give his message broad appeal.

Mr. Pence, whom the celebrity-obsessed Mr. Trump used to refer to as “out of central casting,” was a staunch supporter and defender of Mr. Trump as his running mate during the second half of the 2016 presidential campaign, at a time when the Mr. Pence faced a tough re-election run in Indiana.

He was Mr. Trump’s most loyal advocate during their joint tenure.

But Mr. Trump began a pressure campaign on Mr. Pence to prevent Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s Electoral College victory. was certified after Mr Trump lost the 2020 election. Mr. Pence declined to use his ceremonial role as overseer of certification at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to further Mr. Trump’s goals.

That day, a pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol, with some of Mr. Trump’s supporters chanting, “Hang Mike Pence!” Since then, the break between the two has become irrevocable.