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EXCLUSIVE - Former Vice President Mike Pence isn't ruling out another run for the White House in 2028, telling Fox News Digital that he has heard from people across the country about a potential presidential bid.
The former vice president also delivered a warning to his party following the GOP's severe setbacks in the 2026 midterm elections, arguing that Republicans risk another defeat unless they abandon departures from the traditional conservative principles that have defined the party for decades.
Pence, who unsuccessfully campaigned for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, said at an event in September at the Economic Club of Washington that he had "no plans" to run for president or any other elected office in 2028.
But in his first interview since the midterms, Pence appeared to leave the door open to another White House bid, telling Fox News Digital he's received outreach urging him to consider another White House bid.
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"We've been hearing from a lot of people around the country. I've been very humbled by that," he said.
Pence didn't reveal any timeline for making a 2028 decision.
Instead he repeatedly emphasized that "the most important thing is that we win the presidency in 2028. And to do that, I think it will be essential that we focus first on what we're for before we focus on who we're for."
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Pence, who has seen Advancing American Freedom, his policy and advocacy organization, dramatically expand over the past year, highlighted that he's going to "continue to lean into advocating that broad mainstream conservative agenda that's defined the Republican Party for the last 50 years."
"The truth is if, if we don't return the Republican Party to the principles of a strong defense, limited government, fiscal responsibility, and the right to life, it won't matter who we nominate in 2028."
Pence partially blames the GOP's midterm shellacking, which saw the Democrats win a large House majority and also regain control of the Senate, on what he argues is President Donald Trump's second term retreat from conservative principles and towards a populist agenda.
Pence, who served as Trump's first term vice president, claimed that "this version of Republicanism was just rejected by the American people" in what he called "the wreckage of the 2026 midterm elections."
Asked for comment, White House Spokesman Davis Ingle told Fox News Digital, "Mike Pence’s total and complete lack of courage caused untold damage to our great country. If Republican voters cared what Mike Pence had to say, he wouldn’t have had to drop out of the presidential race months before the Iowa caucuses."
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Looking ahead, Pence said, " I don't know what the future holds, but all of my energies, all of my focus and my calling now is to be a champion and an advocate for the conservative principles that have defined our party, led us to our greatest successes, and always made America strong and prosperous and free."
Asked if he doesn't run, he could support Vice President JD Vance or Secretary of State Marco Rubio if either seeks the GOP nomination, Pence answered, "What I'm gonna be looking for is men and women who embrace that historic traditional conservative agenda of the Republican Party."
He argued that "there's a lot of folks on the populist right that suggest that people that that hew to that old Reagan tradition don't know what time it is, and I think the midterm elections have given a verdict on their approach to Republicanism."
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