(Bloomberg) -- The super political action committee supporting Mike Pence’s presidential campaign is broadcasting its first ad that amplifies the former vice president’s new message — that his former boss, Donald Trump, isn’t fit for office.
The $250,000 buy for the digital and cable commercial by the super-PAC Committed to America highlights Pence’s comment on Wednesday in announcing his candidacy for the 2024 Republican nomination that Trump should never be president again because he asked Pence, then his vice president, to violate his oath to the US Constitution and overturn the 2020 election.
The advertisement, which will be broadcast in Iowa, shows images from the assault on the US Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and alludes to the mob of Trump supporters who chanted, “Hang Mike Pence” for refusing Trump’s demands to reject Electoral College votes for President Joe Biden.
“A weak man appeases a mob; a man of courage and character stands up to them,” a narrator says. “That day, one man failed the test of leadership, while another stood tall.”
Pence said in his announcement speech that Trump, who polls show has a wide lead over a growing list of rivals, may have governed like a conservative but refuses to consider changes in entitlement programs, has praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and has shown reluctance when it comes to banning abortion.
Earlier: Pence Rebukes Ex-Boss Trump in Launch of Presidential Bid
“This so-called leader has continued to abandon our conservative principles,” the narrator continues. “Now, with a woke mob trying to take away our freedom, we need a president who won’t flinch, who won’t try to cut deals with our values.”
Pence, a former Indiana governor and congressman, is focusing his campaign on Iowa with its first-in-the-nation GOP caucuses, hoping to connect with evangelical Christian voters and fellow Midwesterners.
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