Trump's VP: 11 things to know about Mike Pence
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect Vice President
The story below was originally published on
On
Whether your reaction to the news was "Mike Who?" or you just need a refresher on his two-plus decades in politics, here's what you should know about the 50th governor of
1. He says he's "a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order."
Pence has long said his approach to governing is informed not by party, but by his faith and his love of the
He's staunchly anti-abortion rights, and while in
A born-again evangelical Christian, Pence has also been a strong proponent of religious freedom, and believes marriage should be between a man and a woman.
In addition to his faith, his views on governance were strongly influenced by
"The conservative is animated by the principle of driving toward the ideal of solutions that are grounded in economic freedom and individual liberty, but also understanding that compromise is part of the conservative approach to governance," Pence told IndyStar in a 2015 interview, referring to Kirk's philosophy. "I don't believe in compromising principles, but I do believe in finding a way forward on the basis of authentic common ground."
2. He was raised Catholic and idolized JFK.
Pence and his five siblings grew up in
He volunteered for the
It wasn't until college, when he met his future wife, Karen, at an evangelical church that he became a born-again Christian. A history major at
"I started to identify with that kind of common-sense conservatism of
3. He was a six-term Congressman, serving from 2001-2012.
In the
As a freshman in 2001, he opposed the No Child Left Behind policy supported by President
During Pence's second year in office, he opposed another
In later years, he persuaded
4. He signed RFRA, and gave a disastrous interview defending it.
Over the objections of the business community and LGBT rights groups, Pence in 2015 signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, setting off the biggest controversy of his political career.
Proponents said RFRA was needed to add another layer of protection for exercising one's religious beliefs free of government intrusion. The law in essence prohibited the government from intruding on a person's religious liberty unless it could prove a compelling interest in imposing that burden and do so in the least restrictive way.
Opponents, however, feared it could be used to discriminate against lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people in the name of religion. Legal experts said it could have allowed people to raise religious freedom objections to existing human rights ordinances that extend anti-discrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.
The bill's passage sparked a national firestorm. National media outlets swarmed
The weekend following the bill signing, Pence attempted to defend RFRA and pour water on the fire. Instead, he may have only fueled it.
In a nationally televised interview,
"This is where this debate has gone, with misinformation," Pence said. "We've been doing our level best, George, to correct the gross mischaracterization of this law that has been spread all over the country by many in the media … and the online attacks against the people of our state. I'm just not going to stand for it."
The interview was widely criticized by
Shortly after its passage, the
In some ways,
5. In 2006, he tried to strike a compromise on immigration reform.
Then-
Pence has said his views on immigration were informed by his family's own experience. His grandfather,
As governor, he recalled speaking to President
On other immigration matters, his stances have more closely aligned with his fellow conservatives.
In 2014, he joined a multi-state lawsuit challenging President
More recently, he opposed settling Syrian refugees in
6. He's no firebrand.
Pence's polite demeanor would strike a stark contrast with that of Trump, who likes to give his opponents names such as Crooked Hillary and Lyin' Ted.
But in his first two campaigns for office in 1988 and 1990, Pence did go negative -- something he later said he regretted.
In a commercial described at the time as the most negative in
Afterward he wrote an essay entitled "Confessions of a Negative Campaigner," in which he denounced his own actions.
"I think negative personal attacks have no place in elective politics,” Pence said during his run for governor in 2012. “I just think, as I wrote back in 1991, that negative campaigning I now know is wrong. It's wrong to use one's brief moment in a political debate to talk about what's wrong with your opponent, as opposed to what's right with your ideas.”
Of course, a tight re-election fight this year has challenged his ability to stick to that principle.
Pence assured a crowd of party insiders at the
7. He tried to start a state-run news service.
Internal documents obtained by IndyStar in 2015 showed Pence's administration had developed plans to start a state-run taxpayer-funded news outlet that would make pre-written news stories available to
The plan quickly became the object of ridicule across the nation, drawing comparisons to state-run media in countries such as
Within the week, Pence killed the idea, saying plans for the JustIN website would be replaced with an overhaul of the state's online press release system.
Prior to the "
As governor, he vetoed bills that critics said would have limited access to public records. One, vetoed this year, would have permitted private colleges and universities to withhold records in cases that involved accidents, complaints and suspected crimes without arrests. The other, from 2015, would have allowed public agencies to charge hourly fees for record searches.
8. He cut taxes and takes pride in the state's business climate.
Under Pence's watch,
A 2013 study showed
“With this bill, we give counties the opportunity to incentivize additional investment in new technology and heavy equipment,” Pence said at the time. “We make it easier for companies to expand and create jobs here in Indiana.”
The unemployment rate has fallen from 8.4 percent when he took office in 2013, to around 5 percent today, though critics complain that wages remain below the national average.
The state also has a
9. He expanded Medicaid, with a catch.
In
Pence said the Healthy Indiana Plan 2.0, a revamped version of a program started by then-Gov.
"I believe Medicaid is not a program we should expand. It's a program that we should reform – and that's exactly what we're accomplishing," Pence said at the time. "HIP 2.0 is not intended to be a long-term entitlement program. It's intended to be a safety net that aligns incentives with human aspirations."
With the approval,
The expansion was expected to make as many as 350,000 low-income Hoosiers eligible for new benefits.
10. He was in a tight battle for re-election.
Although
The race would have been a rematch of 4 years ago, when Pence narrowly defeated Gregg by 3 percentage points. But the RFRA controversy alienated many moderates, driving Pence's negatives up. A poll taken in late 2015, six months after RFRA, showed just 47 percent of Hoosier residents approved of Pence’s performance -- a big drop compared to Pence’s approval rating of 62 percent in the same poll a year earlier.
Two polls taken this spring gave Pence a 4-point edge over Gregg, a slim gap that fell within the polls' margins of error.
10. He has a rabbit named
Joining the Pence family as they made their move to
Yes,
Pence tweeted a photo of the family with the pets mid-air, thanking the
Bonus: Things
According to a description
IndyStar reporters
This article originally appeared on
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