5 Things to Know About Mike Pence
Over the past eight years, Mike Pence has gone from being a skeptic of Donald J. Trump to his doggedly loyal vice president to the target of his strongest supporters during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. Now he is one of a growing number of Mr. Trump’s opponents in the Republican presidential primary.
Mr. Pence was elected the governor of Indiana in 2012 after six terms in the House of Representatives, where he became the chairman of the Republican conference, the third-highest position in House Republican leadership. He dropped his campaign for re-election as governor when Mr. Trump named him as his running mate in 2016.
Here are five things to know about Mr. Pence.
He was perhaps the most loyal Trump loyalist.
Before Mr. Trump was nominated in 2016, Mr. Pence — like many Republicans — was critical of him. Among other things, in 2015, he called Mr. Trump’s suggestion to bar Muslims from entering the United States “offensive and unconstitutional.”
But once Mr. Pence agreed to be Mr. Trump’s running mate, he went all in. Though he said in 2016 that he would not be Mr. Trump’s “cleanup crew,” he eventually became Mr. Trump’s most reliable defender, regularly called on to explain or spin controversies, advise cabinet secretaries and lawmakers and provide a more traditional and religious conservative veneer to the candidate and president.
Source: The New York Times
