Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says 'it's hard to imagine' Pence 'getting by both Trump and DeSantis' in a GOP presidential primary

• Gingrich said it would tough for Pence to topple both Trump and DeSantis in a 2024 GOP field.
• "It's hard to imagine him getting by both Trump and DeSantis," Gingrich told Politico's Adam Wren.

Former Republican House Speaker Newt Gingrich in an interview said that it would be difficult for former Vice President Mike Pence to topple former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida in a GOP presidential primary if the former vice president were to jump into the 2024 race.

Gingrich, while speaking to Politico's Adam Wren, praised Pence as someone who could make a clear case for a White House candidacy but would not wholly embrace going negative against his opponents.

"He's got a huge problem," the ex-congressional leader said. "I think Pence is very, very comfortable making a positive case for himself. He'd be very uncomfortable running a negative campaign because it's just not really who he is."

While Pence might hesitate to launch negative broadsides, Trump would have no such qualms.

In 2016 Republican presidential primaries, Trump easily vanquished experienced politicians like former Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida, then-Gov. John Kasich of Ohio, and Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida — along with figures like retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson and former Hewlett-Packard chief executive Carly Fiorina — through his aggressive campaigning and frequent political attacks.

Gingrich, a member of Pence's Advancing American Freedom advisory board, told Wren that the former vice president getting past Trump and DeSantis in a Republican primary would be tough.

"It's hard to imagine him getting by both Trump and DeSantis," Gingrich said.

While DeSantis has not announced a 2024 campaign, he has emerged over the past year as Trump's most direct potential rival for the nomination.

In recent weeks, DeSantis has even led Trump in several national surveys for the 2024 nomination among Republican voters, after a midterm election cycle which saw the Florida governor win reelection in a 19-point landslide while GOP gains at the federal level were more muted.

Republicans were unsuccessful in their goal of flipping the Senate, and while they did regain a House majority, it will be so narrow that current Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California or whoever emerges as the speaker will not have an easy time corralling votes.