Mike Pence: Biography, Career history and Personal life
U.S. Vice President Mike Pence. Photo: New York Post

Some features about Mike Pence's life, career history will be shown immediately!

Who Is Mike Pence?

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence was a conservative radio and TV talk show host in the 1990s. After losing two bids for a U.S. congressional seat, he successfully ran for Congress in 2000, rising to the powerful position of Republican conference chairman, before being elected governor of Indiana in 2012 and inaugurated one year later. Named Donald Trump's running mate in July 2016, Pence became vice president of the United States when Trump won the presidential race on November 8, 2016, though their administration ended four years later with a loss to the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris ticket.State law bars him from seeking reelection and running for vice president at the same time.

From 2001 to 2013, Pence was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives. He was also the 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.

Mike Pence 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.

Pence and his wife, Karen, a former elementary school teacher, have been married since 1985 and have three children. Their son, Michael Pence, 24, is a Marine Corps officer. Their older daughter, Charlotte Pence, 22, is a filmmaker who recently graduated from college. Their younger daughter, Audrey Pence, 21, goes to Hanover College and considers herself socially liberal. Audrey Pence says her dad tells her he is proud of her for having formed her own opinions. The family lived in Arlington, Virginia, while he was a congressman, according to abc news.

Pence declined to back Gohmert-led effort to upend election

Vice President Mike Pence asked a federal judge in Texas to deny a Republican congressman’s emergency request for a court order that would essentially allow the vice president to reverse Donald Trump’s election loss during a joint session of Congress Wednesday.

The Dec. 27 lawsuit by Gohmert echoes Trump’s claim that Biden won the election only through rampant voter fraud perpetrated by thousands of corrupt Democratic officials and election workers. Some members of Congress have signaled they will object during the joint session.

It’s the first indication that Pence is resisting some of the most extreme calls to reverse the presidential election results, thus relying on his role as the presiding officer on Jan. 6, when Congress meets to finalize Biden’s win.

Pence still has not publicly weighed in on his plans for presiding over the Jan. 6 session, when Congress will count electoral votes expected to certify Biden’s victory. He also has not publicly commented on Trump’s repeated calls to reverse the results of the democratic process and install himself for a second term.

Mike Pence - Key Life and Career Moments

Mike Pence graduated from Hanover College with a B.A. in history and went to law school at Indiana University.

He came under fire for signing a "religious freedom" bill into law on March 31, 2015. Critics say the law gives businesses a license to discriminate against the LGBT community by allowing them to cite religious views to deny people 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 terrorist attacks at a closed-door meeting. He later apologized.

Mike Pence: Biography, Career history and Personal life
Mike Pence and President Donald Trump. Photo: Reuters

What You Might Not Know About Mike Pence

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 possible 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, perhaps laying groundwork for a 2016 campaign that never happened.

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

In that 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 conservative brothers Charles and David Koch.

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 to 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 Mike Pence Has Said About Trump

He called Trump's comments on U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel "inappropriate." Trump suggested that because of the judge's Mexican heritage, he could not be impartial in two lawsuits against Trump University over which he is presiding. "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 for the GOP nomination 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."

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