Mike Pence has a family, been married since 1985 to his first wife, three children, and former congressman for six terms in Washington and Governor of Indiana. He is the GOP vice presidential nominee Donald Trump has selected. Pence will greatly shore up the Republican establishment and conservative bona fides.
Trump needed an experienced lawmaker from a rust belt state who can reach out to Washington politicians. He fills that slot perfectly. He is the counterweight to Trump. Expect the billionaire to be brash, bold and sometimes inconsistent. That’s his style and it brought more votes in the primaries than any Republican candidate in history.
Governor Pence offers a more consistent tone while offering years of steady Christian conservative principles. Picking such a strong conservative has its fallacies which may come out in the general election.
In recent times, Pence was unanimously elected head of the House Republican Conference in 2009. He was the third-highest ranking Republican in the House. He had a reputation of strict fiscal and social conservatism. Pence has been a strong advocate for tax cuts and spending limits. He is best known with far left liberals for resisting new protections for the LGBT community. Furthermore, he called for a ban on federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
As governor, Pence has seen the state’s economy grow and the unemployment rate has been cut nearly in half. Under Pence, Indiana was the first state to drop Common Core education requirements and also agreed to expand Medicaid under Obamacare.
Trump’s choice of Pence may have been a political blessing for him. He has been in a tight reelection with a slim lead over Democrat John Gregg, the man he narrowly beat to win the office in 2012.
Nevertheless, Trump and the governor have their differences. Although Pence will be Trump’s leading advocate, the two do not see eye to eye on every issue. The governor has often criticized Trump’s proposed ban on Muslim immigration, calling it “offensive and unconstitutional” last December. He has also supported the Trans-Pacific Partnership back in 2014. Trump is adamantly against it. He also voted for Ted Cruz in Indiana’s primary.
