Mike Pompeo signals 2024 GOP presidential primary plans with South Carolina ad

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Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo unveiled a digital advertising campaign in South Carolina this week, roughly 18 months before Republican voters are scheduled to begin choosing their next presidential nominee.

In the 30-second spot, the first from Pompeo’s political action committee, CAVPAC, he celebrates the Supreme Court decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District that sided with a high school football coach who sued on First Amendment grounds after being fired for praying at midfield. It’s a smart message, one sure to attract the attention of grassroots conservatives — an advertisement any ambitious Republican politician might air.

But this is Mike Pompeo, and he chose to run his PAC’s first spot in South Carolina, a key primary state on his party’s presidential nominating calendar. The Palmetto State votes third, after Iowa and New Hampshire, respectively, and goes first in the South, home to millions of committed Republicans. The move is the clearest signal yet of Pompeo’s interest in seeking the White House in 2024.

“I'm Mike Pompeo, and this is who we are,” the former secretary of state says in the ad. “Let's make sure our religious freedom and our right to pray are never canceled.”

Pompeo, 58, is a former congressman from Kansas and a four-year member of the Trump administration, first as director of the CIA, then as secretary of state.

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