(Bloomberg) — Mike Pence was greeted with boos in his home state of Indiana, as the former vice president, former governor and potential 2024 Republican candidate delivered remarks at the National Rifle Association’s annual conference, hours before his ex-boss and possible rival Donald Trump spoke.
Friday’s event in Indianapolis marked a rare instance of the two former running mates appearing at the same venue — though not at the same time. They split bitterly and publicly in January 2021, after Pence refused Trump’s demands to help him overturn his electoral loss to Joe Biden and a crowd of the then-president’s supporters ransacked the US Capitol, some chanting “hang Mike Pence.”
Pence, who also represented Indiana in Congress, is widely considered to harbor 2024 presidential aspirations. In recent months, he’s escalated his criticisms of Trump even while trying to strike a balance in a party where affection for the former president remains strong.
Pence was expected to make critical references to both Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at a Republican National Committee donors’ retreat in Nashville, Tennessee, on Friday evening, according to excerpts of his remarks.
The NRA’s membership represents a fervent part of the Republican base, and is crucial to any candidate seeking the nomination.
In their remarks, Pence, Trump and other current and potential Republican presidential candidates acknowledged the latest episodes of deadly gun violence but insisted that gun-control measures aren’t the answer.
“This is not a gun problem,” Trump said. “This is a mental health problem, this is a social problem, this is a cultural problem, this is a spiritual problem.”
He was welcomed with a wild ovation and chants of “USA, USA, USA” in his first public appearance since being arraigned in New York on charges related to hush-money payments.
He promised measures to protect schools and gun rights if elected while reiterating complaints about the investigations he faces, promising to have the Justice Department investigate “radical” district attorneys and attorneys general and bragging about his lead in early 2024 polls.
Pence acknowledged the shootings but said the answer involved placing armed officers in every public and private school in the US, executing mass murderers in months instead of years, and building more institutions for the mentally ill.
“We don’t need gun control, we need crime control,” he said. “We don’t need lectures about the liberties of law-abiding citizens, we need solutions to protect our kids.”
The NRA’s annual meeting is being held after the April 10 shooting at a bank in downtown Louisville, Kentucky, in which five people were killed, and the deaths of three 9-year-olds and three adults at a grade school late last month in Nashville.
The forum gave the 2024 GOP hopefuls a chance to make an appeal to a critical Republican constituency, even as Democrats suggest the party risks losing voters — especially young people — for aligning with the NRA and against gun-control measures.
DeSantis, who’s widely expected to run and polls show is Trump’s chief rival, appeared in a three-minute video shown at the NRA gathering that touted his signing of bill to allow carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.
His speech received a warm reception, as did his admonition that “nobody should be discriminated against because they’re gun owners or because they’re involved in the gun industry.”
Another prominent Republican thought to be considering a campaign, former Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, said in a statement on Friday that he would not run.
Pence and Trump were expected to speak separately at the RNC donors’ retreat this weekend in Nashville, where the expulsion of two Black lawmakers from the Republican-controlled Tennessee Legislature last week over a gun control protest drew national attention.
The former vice president was expected to say “elections are always about the future” and “to win in 2024, the Republican Party must be the party of the future” — a reference to Trump’s obsession with their 2020 election loss he falsely claims was rigged and stolen and the investigations the former president faces.
Pence didn’t mention DeSantis by name in the excerpts, but he has previously criticized the Florida governor’s fight with the Walt Disney Co. as going beyond what a limited-government conservative Republican should.
“We must resist the temptation to put what is popular over what is wise, and resist the politics of personality and the lure of populism unmoored to timeless conservative values,” Pence was expected to say. “We will win if we run boldly as Republicans.”
Pence also was also expected to defend US aid to help Ukraine repeal the Russian invasion, which DeSantis has criticized. He was also critical of Trump taking the position of President Joe Biden and Democrats that Social Security and Medicare shouldn’t be touched, defending his own call to reform the entitlement programs to ensure their solvency for future generations.
(Updates with Pence comments at RNC retreat, from 18th paragraph.)
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