Former Vice President Mike Pence’s rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination said he did the right thing when he refused to cower under pressure from former President Trump to stop the certification of electoral votes on Jan. 6, 2021.
Mr. Pence has made the case on the campaign trail that he did not have the constitutional authority to follow Mr. Trump’s marching orders — and most of his rivals apparently agree.
Pressed on the issue in the first GOP presidential debate, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina said Mr. Pence “absolutely” did the right thing.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis danced around the question for a bit before making it clear that “Mike did his duty.”
Nikki Haley, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in Mr. Trump’s administration, said she believes Mr. Pence “did the right thing” and said, “I do think we have to give him credit for that.”
Ms. Haley also called on Republicans to recognize that voters do not want to see a general election rematch between President Biden and Mr. Trump.
“It is time for a new generational conservative leader,” she said. “We have to face the fact that Trump is the most disliked politician in America. We can’t win a general election that way.”
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, meanwhile, showered Mr. Pence with praise.
“Mike Pence stood for the Constitution and he deserves not grudging credit, he deserves our thanks as Americans for putting his oath of office and the Constitution of the United States before personal, political and unfair pressure,” Mr. Christie said, before urging voters to move past Mr. Trump.
“The argument we need to have in this party …. is we need to dispense with the person who said we need to suspend the Constitution to put forward his political career,” Mr. Christie said. “Mike Pence said no and he deserves credit for it.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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