Mike Pence officially announced he is running for the Republican presidential nomination in a video posted early Wednesday and formally addressed a crowd of supporters in Ankeny, Iowa, on Wednesday afternoon. In his speech, the former Indiana governor chastised Donald Trump for his “reckless” actions on 6 January 2021, took swipes at Joe Biden and singled out “enemies of freedom” around the world, including a three-second frame of Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, and China’s president, Xi Jinping, in the video. “I’ve long believed that to whom much is given much will be required,” Pence told the audience, referencing the Bible. “That’s why today, before God and my family, I’m announcing that I’m running for president of the United States of America.” The event, which took place at Des Moines Area Community College, began with a prayer. After a few short speeches by Pence allies, including his brother, the candidate stepped onto the stage with his wife, who introduced him. “We knew that Iowa was the place to start our engines for the great American comeback,” said Pence, who has been campaigning in the state in recent weeks. “I’m a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order,” Pence said, repeating a frequently used phrase. Pence touted his record in Congress and as Indiana governor, during which he supported legislation against abortion and expanded government spending, and repeated ideas from his campaign video released hours earlier including addressing inflation, the national debt and issues at the US-Mexico border. He also hearkened his time as vice-president, touting some of the policies that he and Trump pushed forth in their term. “I was proud to stand by President Donald Trump every day,” Pence said. But Pence broke from Trump on 6 January 2021 when Congress met to certify Biden’s 2020 win by saying he did not have authority to decide which electoral votes should be counted. That had infuriated some Trump supporters, with a small group calling to “hang Mike Pence” as rioters stormed the US Capitol. “The American people deserve to know that on that day, President Trump also demanded that I choose between him and the constitution. Now, voters will be faced with the same choice,” said Pence on Wednesday. “And anyone who asked someone else to put them over the constitution should never be president of the United States again,” he said later. Pence, like others vying for Republican ticket, also doubled down on his call for abortion restrictions, and pushed his conservative agenda. “Timeless American values are under assault as never before,” said Pence in the announcement video, in which he quoted former presidents Abraham Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. His candidacy marks a rare instance of a former vice-president contending for the nomination against a former president with whom he shared a ticket. Trump is leading the polls among GOP voters, with Florida’s governor, Ron DeSantis, now trailing about 30 percentage points behind him. Pence has consistently polled third, in the single digits. But while the Trump campaign openly questioned why Pence would run, the latter focused on what he said was a belief in freedom and the American people. “Every time our nation has produced leadership that has called upon this country to do hard things, the American people have always risen to the challenge,” Pence said. “And we will again. We just need government as good as our people to do it.” Eight Republican candidates have officially joined the race alongside DeSantis and Trump, with the latest being North Dakota’s governor, Doug Burgum, who announced his candidacy in a Wall Street Journal piece on Wednesday. The former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie officially joined the race in a New Hampshire town hall on Tuesday. Pence, who also served in the House of Representatives for a decade before becoming Indiana governor, joins a crowded field for the Republican nomination. In recent months, Pence has appealed to his base of evangelical Christians and anti-abortion activists. “God is not done with America yet,” he said in the announcement video. Wednesday is also Pence’s birthday. He is 64.