A few hours after Newsmax reported Thursday on speculation among some Indiana Republicans that Mike Pence could run for the Senate seat fellow Republican Mike Braun is relinquishing in 2024, the former Vice President made it clear that it isn't going to happen.
Pence, his spokesman told us without hesitation, "has no interest in running for the U.S. Senate." The same spokesman added that he felt he had made this clear to us as well as to another national publication that had been following the story.
Any conversations the onetime House GOP Conference Chairman and governor of the Hoosier State had about Braun's decision to relinquish his Senate seat and run for governor were "about others who might run and not the former vice president himself."
Earlier in the day, Newsmax quoted a Republican state official as saying Pence "would clear the field" if he decided to make a bid for Braun's Senate seat.
But Pence is obviously focused on the 2024 presidential contest.
Since Braun made his announcement on Wednesday, there have been several names mentioned to run for the seat that is almost certain to stay in Republican hands.
Reps. Jim Banks and Victoria Spartz, both stalwart conservatives, are considered likely to run and State Attorney General Todd Rokita, also a conservative activist, has been mentioned.
Newsmax