Mike Pence navigates anger from all sides as he inches toward a presidential run

Mike Pence recalled Tuesday that he didn’t find out until later that insurrectionists had chanted “Hang Mike Pence” while he hid in the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

As he spoke in a sun-filled atrium of the Duke Energy Convention Center here, gay rights protesters serenaded the former vice president with chants of “F— Mike Pence.”

Shouting from the sidewalk outside and brandishing rainbow flags and homemade signs, the protesters were loud enough to briefly interrupt Pence’s exclusive interview with NBC News.

It was a reminder that almost everywhere the mild-mannered Pence goes, he finds Americans who are moved to deep anger by his very presence. At a National Rifle Association conference last month in Indiana, he was the only featured speaker who was greeted with a cascade of lusty boos.

But Pence, who is slowly taking steps toward a 2024 presidential bid, appears to be undeterred by the vitriol — or by primary polls that consistently show him registering in single digits with Republican voters. Instead, he increasingly sounds like a candidate who has decided to enter the race but isn’t ready to make it official.

“I expect before the month of June is out, we’ll let people know of our decision,” he said. “If we choose to go forward, this race doesn’t really start until the August debate in Milwaukee.”

What remains less clear is the path to the presidency for a candidate whose traditional conservative politics, establishment bona fides and regard for democratic institutions have all been out of vogue for Republicans in the Trump era. Many of former President Donald Trump’s hardest-core supporters treat him as a traitor because he rejected Trump’s entreaties to obstruct the electoral vote count that sealed their fate in the 2020 election.

That helps explain why some veteran Republican operatives speculate that Pence could ultimately forgo a bid, even as he travels the country. He was in Cincinnati on Tuesday to speak at a gala for the Center for Christian Virtue, and he plans to visit New Hampshire — the site of the nation’s first primary — this month.

But while most campaigns-in-waiting have staffs assembled on the sidelines, Pence’s core team hasn’t expanded, and operatives in early states say there isn’t much chatter about outreach from his aides to potential hires.

By contrast, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is running second to Trump and well ahead of the rest of the pack in national polls, has a super PAC that has hired aides and aired ads across the country. DeSantis is expected to launch his bid this month.

Trump, who is considering whether to skip the first primary debate sanctioned by the Republican National Committee, is the clear front-runner in a race for the nomination he has won twice before. And Pence has been reluctant to attack his former boss.

Asked Tuesday whether a jury verdict finding Trump liable for sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll altered his view of Trump’s fitness for the presidency, Pence sidestepped.

“I think that’s a question for the American people,” he said, adding that he had “never heard or witnessed behavior of that nature” while he served alongside Trump.