U.S. ex-VP drops out of presidential race

"It's become clear to me: this is not my time. After much prayer and consideration, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president."

Former United States Vice President Mike Pence made the remark Saturday to become the first Republican candidate to withdraw from the White House race.

Pence got a warm reception when he stepped up to speak at the annual meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas, only to cause a shock by using the occasion to become the first major 2024 candidate to suspend his campaign.

The eventual demise of Pence's bid to be chosen to take on Democrat President Joe Biden next year had only seemed a matter of time.

For four years, he stood out for unquestioning loyalty to former president Donald Trump, even as the White House lurched through impeachment, ethics scandals, and a dizzying rate of turnover among senior staff.

But when Trump pressured Pence to go one step further — helping to overturn the legitimate win by Biden in the 2020 election — the long-submissive deputy stood firm.

That defiance, which saw enraged pro-Trump supporters chanting "hang Mike Pence" as they stormed the Capitol to stop certification of the election on 6 January 2021, immediately made the devout Christian a pariah to the far-right.

With Trump bouncing back from what many thought would have been a career-ending episode, then seemingly brushing off a series of criminal indictments in his post-presidential life, Pence's hopes of building a new career of his own were doomed.

Despite national name recognition and years of experience in Washington, Pence's campaign was anemic. Had he not dropped out Saturday, he faced the humiliation of not being invited to join a primary candidates' debate in Miami on 8 November due to lack of support in the polls.