Michael R. Pence

MICHAEL R. PENCE

Republican

Vice President Mike Pence a former conservative radio-talk show host turned lawmaker, is once again running at the top of the ticket with Republican President Donald Trump, after four years of serving as Trump’s chief defender.

Pence, 61, has described himself as "a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order," and has provided Trump with a critical link to evangelical Christians, a key voting bloc for Republicans.

In February, Trump appointed Pence to head the White House’s Coronavirus Task Force, a move that was met with criticism from those in the public health community who believed a scientist should be at the helm of the panel. He eventually won some plaudits for his initial press briefings in the early days of the pandemic by deferring to the scientific experts on hand to answer detailed questions on the virus’ spread. But Trump soon after decided to take over the briefings after experiencing a slight bump in polls from his initial appearances.

Pence has vehemently defended Trump’s handling of the pandemic, writing in a June opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal that fears of the coronavirus were "overblown." He has argued the country is "winning the fight against the invisible enemy" as more than 200,000 Americans have been killed by the virus.

Last November, Trump dismissed rumors that he was considering former United Nations Nikki Haley as a potential 2020 running mate, telling the morning show "Fox & Friends" that Pence " is our guy, he is my friend."

Pence served in the U.S. House from 2001 to 2013, before he was elected to serve as governor of Indiana in 2013. He decided not to run for a second term as governor when given the chance to run as Trump’s running mate in 2016.

As governor of Indiana he faced a firestorm of criticism for signing the state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 2015. Pence and supporters of the measure argued it provided people with protection to freely exercise their religious beliefs without government intrusion. But critics of the initial plan said it allowed businesses to discriminate against gays and lesbians and deny them services. The state legislature, under pressure from the state's business leaders, amended the law to ensure it could not be used to discriminate against the LGBT community.

Pence, as governor, also signed into Indiana law a ban on abortions sought because the fetus has a disability or because of the fetus’ gender or race.