Rep. Mike Pence Likely To Seek Higher Office, Say Fellow House Republicans

Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) will likely launch a bid for higher office after the November elections, according to several House Republicans.

Pence won the presidential straw poll at the Values Voter Summit on Saturday, intensifying speculation that the third-ranking House Republican has bigger aspirations than serving in the lower chamber.

Still, some believe Pence is more likely to try to become the next governor of Indiana instead of seeking to win the 2012 presidential primary.

With the state’s popular governor, Mitch Daniels (R), term-limited, Pence would have a clear opportunity to run for his party’s nomination. Daniels, meanwhile, is mulling a presidential bid.

But a Republican lawmaker who requested anonymity believes Daniels may not be the only Indiana Republican running for the White House.

“I think [Pence is] actually going to do that. I think he’s actually going to dip his toe in there,” the lawmaker said.

While Daniels is known more as a fiscal conservative, Pence appeals to large factions of the GOP.

In 2003, Pence bucked President George W. Bush in opposing the Medicare prescription drug bill. Pence’s opposition infuriated the White House and Republican leaders in Congress, but many on the right note that Pence was one of the few GOP legislators who refused to back the biggest expansion of Medicare since its inception. Pence also voted against the Wall Street bailout bill in 2008.

And he has been at the forefront of social issues, championing the anti-abortion cause and fighting gay marriage.
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