Incidentally, the annual gathering of the Faith and Freedom Coalition of social conservatives was once the home turf of Mike Pence. The former vice president of the country would be attending the conference every single year to address an audience of like-minded evangelicals who were quite interested and eager to hear him speak, whilst elevating him politically at the same time. But unfortunately, this has turned into a thing of the past.
Mike Pence Decided To Abstain From Participating In Faith and Freedom Coalition Gathering
The current year has seen Mike Pence in a completely new dynamic- that of a Trump-era castoff who would be much better off not showing his face. And as it turns out, Pence knows that very well. The former vice president was invited to the annual gathering, but he decided not to attend.
As it stands, this was the first time that Pence went on to miss the conference in five years. Mary Eberstadt, the immediate past president of the Nashville Republican Women, stated that she was a big fan of Pence but that part of the party was all about academic elitism. Also, she was quite disappointed due to his actions on January 6- where she believes that he should have been in communication with Trump.
Interestingly, it is being considered that Mike Pence’s absence from the conference this year was strictly due to a scheduling conflict. This was also mentioned by Pence’s team and the conference organizers. On Thursday, he did attend a roundtable with Mike DeWine, the Governor of Ohio.
Now, while he is still rooted in the Christian conservative community- after having attended an event with the Coalition in North Carolina to engage the Christian voters in the Charlotte area, things seem to have changed. The decision of Mike Pence to slip the Faith and Freedom gathering does underline the troubles that he finds himself in politically.