(Radio Iowa) – Former Vice President Mike Pence, campaigning in western Iowa this week, says he looks forward to debating former President Donald Trump next month. The first debate among the candidates seeking the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination will be held in Milwaukee on August 23rd.

“There are people, including my former running mate, that are signalling a desire to walk away from American leadership in the world and I’m someone that believes we are the leader for the free world, so we are going to have a good debate,” Pence said in Sioux Center, “and it’s going to be about the future of the party, the future of the country, but I really look forward to it.” Pence says there are also key domestic issues that separate the candidates.

“I see not only the former president, but others that are running for president that are walking away from the right to life at precisely the time that we’ve been given a new era for life,” Pence says. Trump has said he may not participate in the debate because he has a massive lead in the polls and because it will be broadcast on Fox, a network Trump says has been hostile toward him.

Pence campaigned in Holstein earlier today (Thursday) and he’s scheduled to be in Neola early this (Thursday) evening to meet with Pottawattamie County Republicans. Pence has said his goal is to visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties before the Iowa Caucuses.