Mike Pence

Pence has been married to Karen Pence since 1985. They have three children, Michael, Charlotte, and Audrey. Pence met Karen while studying at Indiana University School of Law, and his Christian faith has been central to his public identity.

Pence describes himself as a Christian first and has been associated with the practice known as the “Billy Graham rule,” which involves avoiding being alone with women other than his wife. His religious convictions shaped his opposition to abortion and his support for conservative positions on social policy, including intelligent design.

After earning a history degree from Hanover College in 1981 and a law degree from Indiana University in 1986, Pence practiced law. He later led the Indiana Policy Review Foundation and hosted The Mike Pence Show, a radio program that broadcast his political views across Indiana. He also hosted a weekly local television public affairs program.

Pence unsuccessfully sought a seat in the U.S. House in 1988 and 1990. Following criticism of his 1990 campaign advertising, he wrote the 1991 essay “Confessions of a Negative Campaigner,” in which he apologized for his campaign strategy. He won election to the House in 2000 and took office the following year.

Pence represented Indiana in the House for six terms from 2001 to 2013. He developed a reputation as a strong social conservative and a supporter of limited government, and he described himself as “a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order.” He belonged to the Tea Party caucus, chaired the Republican Study Committee, and became chairman of the House Republican Conference in 2009. He also served on the House Foreign Affairs Committee and was known as a strong supporter of Israel.

Elected governor of Indiana in 2012, Pence took office in 2013. His administration emphasized tax reform, education, school choice, career and technical education, and infrastructure. He signed Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 2015, prompting protests and threatened boycotts from opponents who argued that it could permit discrimination against LGBTQ people. Pence later signed a revision stating that businesses could not deny service on the basis of sexual orientation, race, religion, or disability.

As governor, Pence also signed a 2016 law barring abortions when the fetus had a disability. His positions on abortion, LGBTQ rights, immigration, and religious freedom helped establish him as one of the Republican Party’s most socially conservative figures.

Donald Trump selected Pence as his running mate in July 2016, combining Trump’s campaign with Pence’s government experience and support among traditional conservatives and religious voters. The Trump-Pence ticket defeated Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine in November 2016, and Pence became vice president on January 20, 2017.

Pence cast the deciding Senate vote confirming Betsy DeVos as secretary of education and later cast other tie-breaking votes. He chaired the National Space Council beginning in 2017, led the presidential delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, and participated in the administration’s negotiations concerning North Korea. In February 2020, Trump appointed Pence to lead the White House Coronavirus Task Force.

Pence generally supported Trump through the administration’s controversies, including the 2019 impeachment proceedings and the administration’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He debated Kamala Harris during the 2020 election campaign, and a fly that landed on his head during the debate became a widely circulated moment.

Trump and Pence lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Trump challenged the results and pressured Pence, who was presiding over the Senate’s certification of the Electoral College vote, to reject or block the certification. Pence maintained that the Constitution did not give him unilateral authority to discard electoral votes.

On January 6, 2021, supporters of Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol while Congress was certifying Biden’s victory. Pence was moved to a secure location, then returned to preside over the proceedings after the building was cleared. Congress completed the certification later that night, and Pence attended Biden’s inauguration on January 20, ending his vice presidency. The events broke Pence’s political relationship with Trump and became a defining moment of his public career.

After leaving office, Pence joined the Heritage Foundation as a distinguished visiting fellow and established Advancing American Freedom, a conservative political advocacy group, in 2021. He continued to speak publicly on conservative policy and criticized the Biden administration. He also published the memoir So Help Me God in 2022, focusing on his time in the White House.

Pence entered the Republican presidential primary in June 2023. He defended his conduct during the January 6 certification and argued that a president should not place himself above the Constitution. Abortion restrictions became a central issue in his campaign, but he suspended his candidacy in October 2023 after receiving limited support. In 2025, he received the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for his role in certifying the 2020 election results.