Pompeo to headline fundraiser in early-voting South Carolina

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is ready to headline a significant gathering of Republicans in South Carolina this month as he considers a 2024 White Home bid that would pit him in opposition to his onetime boss, former President Donald Trump.

Pompeo will communicate Aug. 22 on the Religion & Freedom BBQ in Anderson, based on the host of the occasion, U.S. Rep. Jeff Duncan.

“The tenants of Religion and Freedom are ingrained into the very material of our nation, and I’m wanting ahead to celebrating them surrounded by veterans, first responders, and different patriotic People who make our nation nice!” Pompeo stated in a written assertion Tuesday offered to The Related Press.

The fundraiser, which advantages Duncan’s marketing campaign, has lengthy been a showcase for potential White Home contenders, together with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, then- Vice President Mike Pence, Sens. Ted Cruz, Joni Ernst and Marco Rubio, and former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

In keeping with Duncan, who represents South Carolina’s third Congressional District, the occasion is the state’s largest annual gathering of Republicans, sometimes drawing greater than 1,000 attendees.

“Mike Pompeo epitomizes service to nation and group over self,” Duncan stated touting Pompeo’s “unwavering dedication to America first international coverage and his willingness to face as much as adversaries like China.”

Final yr, Pompeo headlined a fundraiser for the state Republican Social gathering in South Carolina, house to the primary presidential votes within the South. His tremendous PAC, which has raised practically $6 million, final month launched a digital advert in South Carolina and Iowa — one other early-voting state the place he has been making appearances — touting non secular freedoms.

Pompeo and Pence are among the many former Trump administration officers making an attempt to determine themselves within the state as Trump continues to tease a 2024 bid. Pompeo, who served as CIA director and prime diplomat, has remained on good phrases along with his former boss, persevering with to defend him after the Jan. 6, 2021, siege of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.

Pence has made a number of current visits to the state, together with final yr when he made his first public tackle since leaving workplace. Already this yr, he has given graduation remarks on the Christian Columbia Worldwide College, spoken at a disaster being pregnant middle fundraiser and outlined his coverage imaginative and prescient for a “post-Roe” world.

___

Meg Kinnard might be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.