With three months to go before the Iowa caucuses on which he has staked his campaign, former Vice President Mike Pence is facing mounting debt and lagging poll numbers that are raising questions about more than just whether he will qualify as the next Republican debate, but also whether it makes sense for him to remain in the presidential race until then.

Pence ended September with just $1.18 million left in his campaign account, a strikingly low number for a presidential contest and far less than his rivals, new documents show. His campaign is also $621,000 in debt, more than half the money he had left, and is trying to meet donor thresholds for the Nov. 8 debate.

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he would likely meet the debate’s polling requirements, Pence has struggled to gain traction and polls are in the low single digits nationally, with no sign of momentum.

Former President Trump, meanwhile, leads all his rivals by at least 40 points in national polls and ended September with $37.5 million in his pocket.

People close to Pence say he now faces a choice about how long he will stay in the race and whether remaining a candidate could potentially affect his long-term standing in the party given Trump’s dominant lead.

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Pence could hold out until the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses, visiting the state’s famous Pizza Ranch restaurants and campaigning on a shoestring budget, but he now has to weigh how that will go.

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his desire to remain a leading conservative voice, said the people, some of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to share their unvarnished views.

For Pence and many of the others, you have to start looking and saying, ‘I’m not going to take on substantial debt if I don’t see a path forward,'” the former Wisconsin governor said. Scott Walker, who ran against Trump in 2016 but dropped his bid after concluding that the Trump train had left the station.

Pence is moving forward for now. He held a Newsmax town hall in Iowa

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Tuesday night and fundraisers this week in Cleveland, Philadelphia and Dallas. He was scheduled to speak Friday evening at the Republican National Committees’ fall retreat and next week at the Republican Jewish Coalitions’ Annual Leadership Summit in Las Vegas, with every opportunity to pitch deep-pocketed donors to keep his campaign afloat.

The super PAC supporting Pence is also continuing its efforts by raising money and conducting an extensive voter campaign, knocking on nearly 600,000 doors and counting.

The campaign is also working aggressively to reach the 70,000 donor threshold needed to qualify for next month’s debate and expresses confidence

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Even though others remain skeptical, he can make it.

I know it’s an uphill climb for us for many reasons, some I understand, some I don’t, Pence acknowledged as he spoke to reporters in New Hampshire last week after formally registering for the first in the United States. nation primary.

Still, some in Pence’s inner circle believe he still has significant contributions to make in the primaries, especially after the Hamas attack on Israel pushed foreign policy to the forefront. Pence has argued that he is the most qualified candidate to tackle problems abroad, saying in the August debate that now is not the time for on-the-job training.

Pence, they say, is feeling a renewed sense of purpose, given his warnings throughout the campaign against the growing wave of isolationism in the Republican Party. Pence has used the conflict to denounce voices of appeasement, which he says embolden groups like Hamas.

Another person warned that Pence, a devout evangelical Christian who sees the campaign as a calling, could respond differently than other candidates in his position if he feels called to stay in the race.

If he decides to leave, Pence would have a potential platform in Advancing American Freedom, the conservative think tank he founded after leaving the vice presidency.

In the meantime, the campaign has been working on cost savings, including by having fewer employees travel to events.

Regardless of what he decides, the predicament facing the former vice president underscores how dramatically Trump has transformed the Republican Party.

In many ways, Pence ran to lead a party that no longer exists.

He has established himself as the traditionally most conservative candidate in the field, following the example of Ronald Reagan. But many of his positions

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maintaining US support for Ukraine’s defense against Russian invasion

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Proposing cuts to Social Security and Medicare is not in line with many of his party’s supporters.

He also faces the fallout from January 6, 2021, when a mob of Trump supporters shouts, “Hang Mike Pence!” stormed the Capitol, sending him running for his life. Trump tried to falsely convince Pence and his own followers that the vice president somehow had the power to overturn the results.

Pence has repeatedly been confronted during his campaign by people who accuse him of betraying Trump, who still often promotes falsehoods about the 2020 election several times a day.

But Pence has also faced the same challenge as every candidate in the field not named Trump, an extraordinary figure whose grip on the party has only increased as he has been charged with dozens of crimes.

If nothing major happens on November 8, the primaries are over. Some argue that is the case now, said Walker, who entered the 2016 Republican primary as the front-runner but ended his campaign in September 2015, months before a single vote was cast, amid mounting debt.

An AP-NORC poll from August found Republicans divided on Pence, with 41% having a favorable opinion of the candidate and 42% an unfavorable opinion. Nationally, a majority of American adults (57%) view him negatively, while only 28% have a positive opinion.

Some hope Pence doesn’t give up. In Iowa, Dallas County Republican Party Chairwoman Kelley Koch said she felt Pence had struggled to define himself beyond Trump and said many remained skeptical of his actions on Jan. 6.

But she said after the attack on Israel, with all eyes now on the Middle East and a new war, Pence could have a moment to make a breakthrough.

He’s such a stickler for foreign policy. That is one of his strengths. And he has that against many of the new rookie candidates in the race. He should respond to that,” she said. I would think that would just be a big trumpet that would set the stage for Mike Pence to step up and take the mic.