Former Vice President Mike Pence and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum launch presidential campaigns

Two Republicans, former Vice President of the United States Mike Pence and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, officially launched their 2024 presidential campaigns Wednesday morning.

Much of Pence’s announcement speech in Iowa was centered around his anti-abortion policy ideas, and he criticized his former running mate Donald Trump and other Republican candidates in the race for “retreating from the cause of the unborn.”

“As your president, I will always stand for the sanctity of life and I will not rest, and I will not relent until we restore the sanctity of life to the center of American law in every state in the land,” Pence said.

Former Vice President Mike Pence launches his presidential campaign, taking credit for sending Roe v. Wade “to the ash heap of history, where it belongs,” while simultaneously hitting former President Donald Trump for “retreating from the cause of the unborn.” pic.twitter.com/yw0CVNrYc6

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Pence went on to claim responsibility for Trump’s three Supreme Court appointments that helped strike down the national right to abortion last summer, praising them for sending Roe v. Wade “to the ash heap of history, where it belongs.” Pence also doubled down on his actions on Jan. 6, 2021 in the midst of the U.S. Capitol riots, and he insisted that he chose the Constitution over Trump and that he always will.

Polls suggest that Pence’s path to the White House would be a tough one, as he is very far behind not only Trump but also Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. In addition to finding no love from Democrats, Pence will have trouble finding much support from far-right Republicans, many of whom see his actions on Jan. 6 as a betrayal to Trump.

Meanwhile, in Fargo, N.D., Burgum held his own rally to announce his candidacy. The two-term governor leaned on his past of going from a small-town kid to a successful tech entrepreneur. He focused on greatly increasing the nation’s oil production to sell to allies, even as he aims to make North Dakota carbon neutral by 2030.

“We need a leader who’s experienced firsthand that we win as a country when our innovators and entrepreneurs can soar and when every single person, can grow and thrive,” Burgum said. “To unlock the best of America, we need a leader who’s clearly focused on three things: economy, energy and national security. And that is why today, I’m officially announcing I’m running for the president of the United States of America.”

After graduating college, Burgum became the president of a software company called Great Planes Software, which he later sold to Microsoft for $1.1 billion. After spending another decade and a half in the business sector, Burgum ran for governor of North Dakota in 2016 without any previous political experience. As governor, he signed into law a six-week abortion ban, a ban of transgender women competing in women’s sports and a bill prohibiting the use of preferred pronouns in schools and government offices.

Burgum and Pence join an already cluttered group presidential candidates on the Republican side. Nine major candidates have confirmed their intentions to run, with others rumored to join soon.