Following presidential debate clash, Mike Pence takes shots at Vivek Ramaswamy in Iowa

CENTERVILLE, Iowa — The first Republican presidential debate is over, but Mike Pence is still throwing punches at Vivek Ramaswamy.

The former vice president and Ramaswamy, an entrepreneur, clashed several times on the debate stage in Milwaukee Aug. 23, with Pence calling Ramaswamy a "rookie."

Pence has sought to capitalize on the tussle, including by criticizing Ramaswamy in a fundraising pitch this week. And at events in central and southern Iowa on Wednesday, he repeatedly derided Ramaswamy's positions, often without naming his rival.

"I know there’s some in this campaign that say it’s no longer morning in America," Pence told a crowd in Ankeny. "Well, it may not be morning in Washington D.C., but it’s still morning in America. I promise you."

He was referring to a fight he had onstage with Ramaswamy at the debate.

"It is not morning in America," Ramaswamy said on the Milwaukee debate stage. "We live in a dark moment, and we have to confront the fact that we're in an internal sort of cold cultural civil war."

More:After centerpiecing GOP debate, Vivek Ramaswamy barnstorms Iowa looking for a boost

Asked about the criticism by reporters Wednesday, Pence said "elections are about choices."

"I don’t have any problem with Vivek Ramaswamy," he said. "I’ve known him a couple of years. He’s just wrong. He’s wrong on foreign policy. He’s wrong on American leadership in the world. He’s wrong on how to get this economy moving again."

The two differed on providing military aid to Ukraine and on Pence's role as vice president in overseeing Congress' counting of electoral votes from the 2020 election on Jan. 6, 2021.

"You’ve got a candidate in the Republican primary that not only thought I had some ability to delay certification that the Constitution never allowed but also suggested that the solution would be a four-part national election reform package," Pence said in Ankeny. "And I just want to tell all of you folks, you never want Washington, D.C. stepping in and telling Iowa how to run your elections."

Ramaswamy appeared on "Meet the Press" on Sunday, where he said if he had been in Pence's position he would have asked for election law changes, like paper ballots, requiring government-issued IDs and only voting on a single day, in exchange for certifying the 2020 election results.

"His proposal about Jan. 6, it’s hard to keep up with because he keeps changing his position on what I did," Pence said Wednesday. "I know I did my duty that day. And what he’s proposed in terms of using the authority as president of the Senate to nationalize elections was incoherent and unconstitutional. And I think it’s frankly been roundly criticized across the political spectrum."

In a statement Tuesday, Ramaswamy's campaign responded to criticism from Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie over Ramaswamy's election proposal.

"Vivek Ramaswamy advocates for a practical solution to address widespread concerns about U.S. election security that will help move the nation forward, after which a President Ramaswamy would lead all Americans to accept the results of elections without questioning their outcomes," the statement said.

Pence also ribbed Ramaswamy in Ankeny over Ramaswamy's comment at the debate when he called the U.S. Constitution "the strongest guarantor of freedom in human history" and said, "that is what won us the American Revolution."

"The Constitution actually was written after the Revolutionary War," Pence said. "Some people weren’t really clear on that last week."

Speaking Wednesday afternoon at C&C Machining, a large manufacturing plant in Centerville, Pence went after a proposal Ramaswamy floated in one of his books to raise the inheritance tax.

"You all deserve to know that Vivek Ramaswamy wants a 59% inheritance tax. He wrote about it in his book last year," Pence said. "And I’ve got to tell you, there’s no farmer, no small business owner that I need to talk about death taxes with. I don’t think death should be a taxable event, and as your president, I will work to end death taxes once and for all. I promise you."

Ramaswamy wrote in his book, "Nation of Victims," that "the way to save meritocracy from degenerating into aristocracy is to give inheritance and estate taxes real teeth, while cutting the progressive income taxes that penalize those who work hard and create value while they're still alive."

Pence and Ramaswamy are both seeking to boost their campaigns as polling shows them well below the highest-polling candidates, former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

In a statement, Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart criticized the full slate of Republican presidential candidates visiting Iowa this week, calling them "wildly out of touch with the majority of Iowans."

"The contrast couldn’t be clearer between the Biden-Harris administration lowering costs for Iowa families and MAGA Republicans fighting to increase costs on working people in favor of the ultra-wealthy and big corporations," Hart said.

More:Iowa Poll: Donald Trump holds commanding lead in first test of 2024 Republican caucus field

In a Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll this month, Pence received 6% support and Ramaswamy took 4%. Trump led the field with 42%, followed by DeSantis at 19%.

Pence has also criticized Trump and DeSantis over a range of subjects, including the Jan. 6, 2021, riots at the U.S. Capitol, military funding for Ukraine and privatizing Social Security. He also sparred with former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, who he criticized for shying away from supporting abortion restrictions.

He indicated he'll keep bringing up those differences.

"I expect we’ll be talking about the other candidates in the field," Pence told reporters Wednesday. "We drew some contrasts with some others on that stage. But elections are about choices and we’re going to make sure that people know where we stand."

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.