Mike Pence did not file to run for president, adviser says

(Reuters) -Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence has not filed to run for president in 2024, his adviser Devin O’Malley said on Twitter on Monday after purported statement of candidacy filings appeared on the Federal Election Commission website.

The filings, appearing on a U.S. federal holiday, prompted some news outlets including Britain’s Sky News to report that Pence had filed to run for president, and the link to the website was circulated by several users on Twitter.

O’Malley, who was press secretary for Pence when he was vice president, tweeted “Former Vice President Mike Pence did not file to run for President today” and later confirmed to Reuters that he is an adviser to Pence.

The filings appeared on the FEC website as “raw” filings that have yet to be processed by the commission. It was unclear who filed them.

A spokesperson for the FEC said they do not comment on specific filings, but noted the Commission reviews potentially false and fictitious registration forms and reports.

Sky News did not respond to Reuters email and phone requests for comment.

Pence incurred then-President Donald Trump’s wrath by refusing to support his effort to overturn the results of the 2020 election and has increasingly distanced himself from the former president since Trump’s loss to Joe Biden.

If Pence does choose to run for president in 2024, analysts say he faces a narrow path to victory. As of December, just 7% of primary voters were planning to back the former vice president, according to a RealClearPolitics average of polls.

(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Sandra Maler, Howard Goller and Lincoln Feast.)