Pence to attend Joni Ernst’s ‘Roast and Ride’ event in Iowa ahead of possible 2024 run
Mabinty Quarshie
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Former Vice President Mike Pence will join Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) as one of her special guests at the lawmaker’s annual “Roast and Ride” event in Des Moines, Iowa, next month.
The motorcycle ride, scheduled for June 3, comes as GOP lawmakers flock to the Hawkeye State, an early battleground as the 2024 presidential race heats up.
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“He’s an avid Harley-Davidson rider, so I cannot WAIT for him to join us for both the morning Ride and the big rally!” Ernst wrote in a tweet Monday.
The “Roast and Ride” will also feature former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is running for president, as a special guest. “She is a true conservative champion, and I look forward to welcoming her on June 3rd to hear her vision for a strong and proud America,” Ernst said of Haley.
Ernst has invited all of the Republican presidential candidates and hopefuls to participate in the event, which raises funds for Iowa’s Freedom Foundation, a Cedar Rapids-based group that advocates on behalf of veterans. So far, Pence and Haley are the two major Republicans eyeing the White House in 2024 set to appear at the event.
Pence has not yet announced he is running for president but previously said he will make a decision before late June. If he were to run, Pence would be challenging his old boss: former President Donald Trump.
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Other Trump rivals have made pit stops in Iowa, including Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who barnstormed through several cities in the state on Saturday. The governor, who is expected to announce a 2024 run in the coming weeks, called for the GOP to reject a “culture of losing,” widely interpreted as a shot at the former president.
Meanwhile, Trump was supposed to hold a campaign rally in Des Moines on the same day DeSantis was appearing in Iowa but canceled the event due to tornado warnings, allowing DeSantis to campaign without Trump’s shadow looming over him.
Pence previously participated in Ernst’s “Roast and Ride” in 2017, an event Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), who has launched a 2024 exploratory committee, also attended.