Mike Pence suspends his presidential campaign: "It has become clear to me that this is not my time"

Mike Pence has ended his presidential campaign. The former vice president abandoned the Republican primaries on Saturday and became the sixth candidate to do so. He confirmed this in a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition conference. He told the audience, who applauded him after hearing the news, “It has become clear that this is not my time.”

According to Fred Zeidman, one of the leading Republican donors who attended the event, the fact that Pence stepped aside was a “total shock.” Indeed, the withdrawal was not in the prepared remarks that the campaign had distributed to journalists hours before the speech.

The former governor of Indiana took the stage, looked at the audience and confirmed the news. “The Bible tells us that there’s a time for every purpose under heaven. Traveling across the country over the past six months, I came here to say it’s become clear to me that this is not my time. So after much prayer and deliberation, I have decided to suspend my campaign for president effective today,” he began.

“We thank God for his amazing grace. He gave us the courage to step forward so many years ago. And the wisdom to step aside. My fellow Republicans, thank you for your kindness, your support and your prayers over the many years. As we go home to Indiana, let me assure you that we leave here with optimism and faith. We don’t know what the future holds. But we know who holds the future, and with faith in him and boundless confidence in all of you, we know the best days for America and our most cherished ally, Israel, are yet to come,” continued the Republican, who started his campaign in June.

Pence became the sixth Republican candidate to drop out of the primary, following Francis Suarez, Will Hurd, Corey Stapleton, Perry Johnson and Larry Elder, in that order. Unlike the latter, who officially endorsed Donald Trump, Pence did not outrightly support any of the candidates still standing: Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum and Asa Hutchinson.

Pence began the race third in the polls but gradually fell to fifth place behind his former boss, the governor of Florida, the former governor of South Carolina and the author of "Woke, Inc."