Thread: Mike Pence: Everything You Need to Know

Mike Pence: Everything You Need to Know

• By INES DE LA CUETARA
• CHRIS GOOD

Jul 14, 2016, 1:44 PM ET

Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images file

WATCH Gov. Mike Pence: Everything You Need to Know

Name: Michael Richard "Mike" Pence
Party: Republican
Date of Birth: June 7, 1959
Age: 57

What He Does Now: 50th Governor of Indiana (elected 2012, inaugurated 2013). Pence is up for reelection in 2016. State law bars him from seeking reelection and running for vice president at the same time.

What He Used to Do: From 2001 to 2013, Pence was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was also Chairman of the House Republican conference and Chairman of the Republican Study Committee. In 2006, he ran to be minority leader of the House but lost to John Boehner. Pence previously worked as an attorney at a private practice and launched two failed congressional bids before getting a job at a think tank. He also hosted a talk radio show and a TV show in Indiana.

Hometown: Columbus, Indiana

Family Tree: Pence was born to a middle class family in Columbus, Indiana. He was one of six children. His parents, Nancy Jane and Edward Pence, ran a string of gas stations. He is of Irish Catholic descent. His grandfather was a bus driver from Chicago who came to the U.S. from Ireland via Ellis Island.

Mike and his wife Karen, a former elementary school teacher, recently celebrated 31 years of marriage.

They've been married since 1985 and have three children. His son Michael, 24, is a Marine Corps officer. His oldest daughter Charlotte, 22, is a filmmaker who recently graduated from college. His youngest daughter Audrey, 21, goes to Hanover College and considers herself socially liberal. Audrey says her dad tells her he is proud of her for having formed her own opinions. His family lived in Arlington, Virginia, while he was a congressman.

Key Life/Career Moments:
He graduated from Hanover College with a B.A. in History and went to law school at Indiana University.

He came under fire for signing the "Religious Freedom" bill into law on March 31, 2015. Critics say the law gives businesses a license to discriminate against gays by citing religious views as a reason to deny them service. Asked on ABC’s “This Week” whether businesses could refuse service to gay people under the new law, Pence repeatedly said the question was beside the point. "This isn't about disputes between individuals," he said. "It's about government overreach, and I'm proud that Indiana stepped forward, and I'm working hard to clarify this." He eventually said he would "fix" the bill to ensure it would not allow for discrimination.

He took some heat for likening the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold the Affordable Care Act to the 9/11 terror attacks at a closed-door meeting. He later apologized.

What You Might Not Know About Him:He is a Christian. In September 2009 remarks at the Values Voter Summit, he said, “But as I think about the past five decades of my life, nothing can compare to the inexpressible joy I felt on a night in April 1978, when I gave my life to Jesus Christ.”

He considered running for president in 2016, and it wasn’t the first time he was thought to be a potential candidate for the White House. In 2009, his trips to early primary states spurred speculation that he was laying the groundwork for a 2012 run. In 2014, he made similar trips, laying potential groundwork for a 2016 campaign that never happened.

In October 1991, Pence wrote an essay for the Indiana Policy Review titled, “Confessions of a Negative Campaigner,” about how he was wrong to run negative campaigns in the past. “Negative campaigning is wrong,” Pence wrote.

In that same time frame, Pence and his family traveled to Israel -- another common destination for presidential hopefuls. He met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in December 2014, and Netanyahu’s office posted video of the two men on its official Twitter feed.

He is a favorite of the Koch brothers.

His favorite ice cream is “moose tracks.”
His favorite movie is the Wizard of Oz.

His favorite superhero is Superman.

As the nationwide backlash against Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act reached a fever pitch, Pence faced condemnation from all corners of liberal America. Miley Cyrus infamously took to Instagram to call him an “a**hole.”

In the 1990s, Pence hosted a talk radio show and a TV show in Indiana. “The Mike Pence Show” was syndicated on Indiana radio stations from 1994 through 1999, and he hosted a Sunday morning TV show in Indianapolis from 1995 until 1999, according to the National Governors Association website.

Pence’s congressional papers are at Indiana University, but they are closed, to be opened only in December 2022 or after Pence’s death, whichever is later.

Has reportedly liked to repeat the phrase, “I’m a conservative, but I’m not angry about it.”

What He Has Said About Trump:Pence introduced Trump at a campaign rally on July 12 in Indiana. "We are ready for Donald Trump to be our next president," Pence said. "You know, Donald Trump understands the frustrations and the hopes of the American people like no other American leader in my lifetime since Ronald Reagan. The American people are tired.”

Pence also called Trump a "strong man" and a "good man."

He criticized Trump’s Muslim ban. "Calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. are offensive and unconstitutional," he tweeted on December 8, 2015.

"Our Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion. The U.S. cannot discriminate on the basis of religion."Still, Pence has tried to halt the settlement of Syrian refugees in Indiana. "The Constitution guarantees the free exercise of religion," spokesman Matt Lloyd USA Today said in a statement. "There is a distinct difference, however, when it comes to security issues when members of the Obama administration's intelligence community have said that ISIS has attempted to gain entry into the United States via the Syrian refugee program."

He called Trump's comments on U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel "inappropriate." Trump suggested the judge's Mexican heritage would prevent him from getting a fair trial in the suit against Trump University. "I don’t think it's ever appropriate to question the partiality of a judge based on his ethnic background," Pence said on June 7.

Pence initially backed Ted Cruz over Trump, though the endorsement was lukewarm and he still praised Trump. "And I'm also particularly grateful that Donald Trump has taken a strong stand for Hoosier jobs when we saw jobs in the Carrier company abruptly announce leaving Indiana not for another state but for Mexico," Pence said in a radio interview on April 29. "I'm grateful for his voice in the national debate. Let me say, I've come to my decision about who I'm supporting and I'm not against anybody, but I will be voting for Ted Cruz in the upcoming Republican primary."

Pence later urged Republicans to unite behind Trump.

"Now that the primaries are over, it's time to come together," Pence said on June 11. "It's time to come together around the people who were the people's choice."

What He Has Said About Veepstakes:
Pence said on June 30 he was "focused on governing in Indiana," when asked about the VP slot. "I haven’t spoken to Donald Trump since before the Indiana primary and I certainly have never spoken to him about that topic," he said. Asked whether he would accept the job, Pence said he "wouldn’t speak to a hypothetical."

As Trump’s VP search narrowed in on Pence and former House speaker Newt Gingrich, Pence addressed reporters outside his home on July 13, where he had met hours earlier with Trump and the presumptive nominee’s family. “It was just very warm, and just one family meeting with another,” Pence told reporters. “Nothing was accepted but we had a great conversation about the country, challenges facing America and my firm belief that Donald Trump is going to provide the kind of leadership that America needs.” At that time, Pence maintained he was still running for reelection as governor of Indiana. Pence faces a July 15 deadline to withdraw from the race for governor, as state law bars him from seeking reelection and running for vice president.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mike-...ry?id=40279288

See? Pence is the ANTI-TRUMP!!! Whoever is advising Trump to pick Pence or pushing him into a Pence is either a huge goof-ball moron or a sneaky low-life traitor trying to sabotage this election.

PENCE IS THE ANTI-TRUMP!!

Don't fall for this "he's a conservative and will help pull in the evangelical vote". That's a huge con. Evangelicals want to fix our country by securing our borders and fixing our bad trade deals. Pence is the opposite of that loving open borders, welcoming immigrants including illegal aliens and has supported every treasonous trade deal since NAFTA.

SCOTT BROWN FOR VP!! He is the only choice.

Wake Up People.

Pence is pro illegal alien amnesty. Trump made a major mistake picking this open borders, pro illegal alien amnesty, RINO for VP!

W

Looks like the campaign has made it somewhat official. You really have to question Trumps judgement and what his real plans are.

I am very disappointed in the selection of Pence as VP. I really would not want him to have to fill any shoes.

I'm hoping Pence is not his VP choice and only false speculation and rumor.

SCOTT BROWN FOR VP!! This is the only choice.

Originally Posted by ALIPAC

Pence is pro illegal alien amnesty. Trump made a major mistake picking this open borders, pro illegal alien amnesty, RINO for VP!

W

Can you cite some evidence of this? It's hard to believe that Trump would invite a pro-amnesty candidate for VP.

I don't see anything in particular in the above article to suggest he is not the guy for Trump's VP -- which is not to say that somebody else like Scott Brown might not be better.

If something bad happened to Trump, if he was president, we would have a lot more to worry about then who it was replaced him.

Read Pence's full immigration record for yourself at

https://www.numbersusa.com/content/my/congress/952/gradescoresheet/

Originally Posted by pkskyali

Can you cite some evidence of this? It's hard to believe that Trump would invite a pro-amnesty candidate for VP.

I don't see anything in particular in the above article to suggest he is not the guy for Trump's VP -- which is not to say that somebody else like Scott Brown might not be better.

If something bad happened to Trump, if he was president, we would have a lot more to worry about then who it was replaced him.

. . . Mr. Pence has supported free trade agreements and offered a plan to grant a speedy pathway to legalization to many illegal immigrants, requiring them to go home and quickly return to the U.S. if they have a job offer here. . .

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...mike-pence-vp/

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

Read Pence's full immigration record for yourself at

https://www.numbersusa.com/content/my/congress/952/gradescoresheet/

According to that link, the only problem he has with immigration is his backing of high tech Visas, a problem, but not anything like amnesty.

Originally Posted by JohnDoe2

. . . Mr. Pence has supported free trade agreements and offered a plan to grant a speedy pathway to legalization to many illegal immigrants, requiring them to go home and quickly return to the U.S. if they have a job offer here. . .

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...mike-pence-vp/

Sorry, I don't see anything at that link talking about a speedy pathway to legalization.