Morning Distribution for Wednesday, June 7, 2023

A [FiveThirtyEight]( email [Morning Distribution]( Wednesday, June 7, 2023 Your daily briefing from FiveThirtyEight --------------------------------------------------------------- The Morning Story [2024-TOC-MIKEPENCE-4×3]( [Mike Pence Is Starting His Presidential Campaign From A Historically Bad Position]( By [Geoffrey Skelley]( The American vice presidency, [according to one of its former officeholders]( is “not worth a bucket of warm spit.” But for a worthless office, the vice presidency has certainly produced a lot of presidents: Though John Nance Garner, the former VP credited with the colorful aphorism never reached the White House, a number of his fellow vice presidents have. Overall, the office has proven to be [one of the most common stepping stones]( to the presidency — or at least to becoming a party’s presidential nominee. But that success rate will face a major test in 2024: Former Vice President Mike Pence has [just announced his candidacy]( for president, entering the race in arguably a weaker position than just about any other modern vice president. This is due in part to the challenges Pence faces, including the unusual prospect of running against the president he served under and his reduced political standing among Republicans since he refused to aid former President Donald Trump’s efforts to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election. Pence is the ninth elected vice president since World War II to seek the presidency either as a sitting or former VP. Of the eight who came before him, six went on to win their party’s presidential nomination at some point. Based on that track record, then, we’d expect Pence to be in a good position to compete for his party’s nomination. [Read more]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Weekly Listen [Play]( [Politics Podcast: The GOP Field Gets Crowded]( [FiveThirtyEight] [View in browser]( [ABC News]( [Unsubscribe]( Our mailing address: FiveThirtyEight, 47 West 66th Street, New York, NY 10023.