Fact Check: Did Mike Pence endorse Kamala Harris and Tim Walz? Viral video debunked
An X user @Luciferjesi tweeted a video of former US Vice President Mike Pence supposedly stating that he endorsed Kamala Harris. The user took to the platform on October 13, 2024, to claim that Pence was endorsing both Harris and her running partner Tim Walz, in a video.
"Drumroll please..... Pence endorses VP Harris & Governor Walz," the caption of the video read.
An archived video on X showcased Mike Pence saying "Vote for Kamala Harris as President of the United States or Tim Walz as her running man." The video also showed Pence claiming that he wouldn't be endorsing Trump in the upcoming elections.
However, the popular fact-checking website, Snopes, reported that the viral video was a clip from Mike Pence's appearance at The Gathering on August 9, 2024. In the original statement, the former Vice President said that he "could never vote" for Harris or Walz.
"I could never vote for Kamala Harris as President of the United States or Tim Walz as her running mate. Period paragraph," was the original statement.
The video shared on X was clipped from a different video where Pence wasn't endorsing Harris. It misled viewers into believing the opposite of what he was saying. That being said, Pence did claim that he wouldn't be endorsing Trump in the elections, either.
"I'm staying out of the presidential campaign": Mike Pence claims in an interview
Mike Pence served as the 48th vice president of the United States between 2017 and 2021, when Donald Trump was president. Since Trump is one of the presidential-elect nominees for 2024, there were speculations that Mike would endorse the former president.
However, he denied endorsing either Kamala Harris or Trump during his appearance at The Gathering, where Erick Erickson was interviewing him. He criticized the Democratic agenda and expressed concerns about where the Republican Party was headed.
Mike Pence commented on how he wouldn't be a part of the ongoing presidential campaign. He said that the American people needed to see what is wrong and what failed the Biden-Harris administration as well as the Harris-Walz team.
Mike stated that they had to ensure that they went down to their roots in "this conservative movement." He added that he was staying out of the presidential campaign.
"I'm staying out of the presidential campaign, for the reason [that] I just cannot endorse this growing abandonment of our allies on the world stage that's taken hold in parts of our party," Pence said.
The 65-year-old politician said that he couldn't endorse Trump and ignore the national debt, which reached $35 trillion in July 2024.
In March 2024, Mike Pence told Fox News that he wouldn't endorse Trump and added that it shouldn't come as a surprise. The former Vice President cited profound differences between him and the former US President.
“I mean, as I have watched his candidacy unfold, I’ve seen him walking away from our commitment to confronting the national debt. I’ve seen him starting to shy away from a commitment to the sanctity of human life," Pence noted.
During the same interview, Pence was asked who he would be voting for in the general elections. He responded by saying that, like most Americans, he would keep his vote to himself, but revealed that he won't be voting for Joe Biden.
The 2024 United States elections are set to be held on November 5, 2024.