Pompeo struggled in preliminary polling among potential GOP primary voters.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced Friday that he would not run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, ending months of speculation around his potential candidacy.
“The time is not right for me and my family,” Pompeo said in a statement released after work hours on Friday evening. “At each stage of my public service – as a soldier, as a member of the U.S. House Representatives, and then as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency and as your Secretary of State – I’ve been blessed to have the opportunity to advance America in a way that fit the time and the moment. This is not that time or that moment for me to seek elected office again.”
Pompeo’s decision means he will not go up against his former boss, former President Donald Trump, for the job.
Pompeo has struggled in the last several months in polls of GOP 2024 candidates both official and potential. A recent survey by Morning Consult has him netting the support of just 1% of potential Republican primary voters.
Pompeo has been one of Trump’s staunchest allies. As secretary of state during Trump’s administration, he moved the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jurusalem.
Pompeo, 59, hinted in his Friday statement that he was not closing the door on a presidential run forever.
“There remain many more opportunities for which the timing might be more fitting as presidential leadership becomes even more necessary,” he said.