Pence said he disagreed with DeSantis over Disney battle, breaking with the Florida governor ahead of possible 2024 matchup

• Pence and DeSantis are presumed to be seeing the 2024 GOP nomination for president.
• Pence drew a distinction with DeSantis on Wednesday over how he handled Disney.

Former Vice President Mike Pence is showing early signs of how he plans to differentiate himself from Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as both are presumed to be entering the 2024 Republican presidential nomination contest.

Appearing on on CNBC's "Squawk Box" on Wednesday, Pence said he thought DeSantis went too far when he retaliated against family-favorite Disney World by stripping the company of its self-governing status.

"I have concerns about the follow on," Pence said. "Disney stepped into the fray, they lost, but then the taxing authority — that was beyond the scope of what I, as a conservative, limited-government Republican would be prepared to do."

Other Republican critics have called DeSantis' approach to large corporations heavy-handed and polarizing. While portion of the Republican Party has become more populous and distrusting of corporations, the GOP has historically been on the side of businesses by doling out major tax breaks while eschewing regulations in favor of a more hands-off posture.

Pence's comments are an early sign of how the former vice presidents plans to distinguish his positions and record in the 2024 GOP nomination contest. Neither Pence nor DeSantis have said they'll seek the presidency, though both are expected to get into the race that so far includes former President Donald Trump and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley.

Trump has been relentlessly lashing out at DeSantis, saying he has failed to give him enough credit for his 2018 gubernatorial win, while Haley said last week that DeSantis didn't go far enough when he enacted his schools bill that was at the center of the Disney dispute.

Pence, a devout Christian, said during the CNBC segment that he disagreed with DeSantis' retaliation methods even though he "fully supported" the Parental Rights in Education Act, the law critics, including LGBTQ rights organizations, have called "Don't Say Gay."

Pence said he viewed the law as "protecting kids" because it mandates schools tell parents if they are offering students healthcare services. He cited instances in which minors might be offered transgender healthcare without parental notification.

When Pence was governor of Indiana he signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act into law, which some critics said would give businesses a "license to discriminate" against gays and lesbians. Facing backlash, Pence called lawmakers back to Indianapolis to clarify the intent of the law.

The Florida schools law in question bans instruction about sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade, and has become controversial because it contains nebulous language that such instruction in higher grades must be "age appropriate or developmentally appropriate."

Some Florida school boards have shown they're confused about how to implement the law, and critics have said they're worried about chilling the speech of LGBTQ teachers and about students being bullied or outed to families who don't accept them. Studies show that LGBTQ youth face higher rates of suicide compared to their cisgender or straight peers.

DeSantis has doubled down on his big business tactics

DeSantis faced similar backlash as Pence did in Indiana over the schools law he championed in Florida, but doubled down. After Disney leaders said they'd work toward its repeal, DeSantis asked the legislature to send him a bill stripping the company of its self-governing status starting in June 2022.

On top of that, the legislature held a special session in February to take the law even further. Under a new bill that's before DeSantis, the governor will have the power to appoint a state-run board.

DeSantis defended his approach to corporations throughout his race for reelection in 2022, and specifically ran on the actions he took against the resort and theme park. Disney is Florida's largest private employer and the company has championed gay rights since the 1990s.

Disney was free to take a position on the bill but "they are not free to force all of us to subsidize their activism, and that's what they were doing," DeSantis said during a June 2022 interview with conservative commentator Dave Rubin.

"We do not subcontract our leadership to woke corporations in California," the governor said during an October 26 campaign stop in Walton County, Florida.

DeSantis didn't mention during his stumping that he married his wife, Casey DeSantis, at Disney World in 2009, a fact Insider was first to report.

DeSantis' battles against big corporations go beyond Disney. He has fought big businesses everything from diversity trainings to environmental, social, and governance investing.

At a conservative conference in September 2022, DeSantis accused "corporate America" of having too much power in America and of "exercising quasi-public power in terms of using their economic power to change policy in this country."

"What I'm doing is using government to give space to the individual citizen to be able to participate in society to be able to speak his or her mind," he said. "And I think that's an absolutely appropriate use of government power. "