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SALT LAKE CITY — Former Vice President Mike Pence will visit Utah on Friday for a private meeting with a handful of business and community leaders.
Pence, a potential 2024 presidential candidate, will participate in a closed-door roundtable in the Zions Bank Founder's Room, hosted by Utah Valley University Gary R. Herbert Institute for Public Policy. He will join former Utah Gov. Gary Herbert and philanthropist Scott Keller for a luncheon that will be open to the media.
Herbert called the event a "listen and learn," and said it's not a campaign event for the former vice president.
"There's no ask for any donations, this really isn't a campaign event, there's no ask for endorsements," he told KSL NewsRadio.
This won't be Pence's first visit to the Beehive State, or the Herbert Institute. Pence debated then-vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris in Salt Lake City in October 2020 and spoke at UVU last September.
At the time, Pence was already rumored to be a potential challenger to his former boss and two-time running mate, Donald Trump, for the GOP nomination, and used his appearance to call for tougher abortion restrictions and strengthening the U.S. military.
Pence's visit comes on the heels of another rumored 2024 candidate's visit to the state. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis addressed delegates at the state Republican Party convention last Saturday at UVU. DeSantis, who was once seen as the frontrunner to challenge Trump within the party, received a warm welcome from Republicans, and declared that "Florida is the Utah of the Southeast."
Although DeSantis hasn't officially declared any plans to run, his stop in Utah — where conservatives have been less enthusiastic about Trump — could bolster him as an alternative to Trump should he decide to throw his hat in the ring.
The same could be said of Pence's trip. He won't be in the limelight as DeSantis was, but it will be a chance to make an impression on prominent Utahns and sow seeds for a potential run in a state where his conservative and evangelical Christian bona fides could help him stand out from the crowd.
Contributing: Lindsay Aerts
