All signs yesterday pointed to billionaire Donald Trump selecting Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate – which would mark an unusually safe pick for the notoriously disruptive White House hopeful. The New York Times and Washington Post were reporting that allies to Trump and Pence were signaling that Pence was the “likely” pick. Pence, who is running for re-election, faces a noon Friday deadline to withdraw from the race.
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“Pence has presidential ambitions”.
Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger also praised Pence, calling him “competent” and a “good choice” despite having yet to throw his support behind Trump.
Mr Pence also criticised Mr Trump’s proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country. Pence’s evangelical, conservative beliefs, while differing from Trump’s, may help sell Trump to Christian voters.
While aides to Trump said he has not finalized his selection of a running mate, Republicans familiar with the process predicted it would be Pence.
Trump and his adult children spent time with Gov. Pence at the governor’s residence on Wednesday.
Pence is “Rush Limbaugh on decaf” Handout/Getty Images News/Getty ImagesWASHINGTON – MARCH 12: In this handout provided by Fox News, Representative Mike Pence (R-IN) appears on “Fox News Sunday” from the “Fox News Sunday” studios March 12, 2006 in Washington, DC.
The pick sets up a stark clash in styles: a brash presumptive nominee with a tendency to freelance into controversies alongside a cautious former congressional leader who’s stuck close to conservative orthodoxy since starting his career in talk radio.
Pence “was tea party before it was cool.”
For a time Pence considered his own run for president, in 2012 and 2016. This morning Mrs. Pence and I put out a breakfast spread late last night, went out and clipped some flowers and served coffee and a warm breakfast this morning and just had good conversation as a family. “And if I thought it legalized discrimination, I would have vetoed it”.
Republicans on Capitol Hill spoke approvingly of Mr. Pence on Thursday: He is seen among his former colleagues there as a conventional politician with standard-issue conservative beliefs, including on some subjects where his policy instincts plainly conflict with Mr. Trump’s.
“This creates an enormous complication”, said James Bopp, an IN conservative activist and 30-year lawyer who specialises IN election law. A longtime member of Congress before being elected governor, Pence ascended through the ranks during the era of Reps. His perceived level-headedness runs contrary to Trump’s hotheaded reputation. “We’re not going to let people die”, he said. “This would save Pence out of a really iffy re-election bid in Indiana”, Goldford said. He also brings up the controversial Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which created a lot of negative publicity for Pence.
Pence is running for re-election, but IN law prevents him from seeking two offices at once.
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Krisher said she didn’t have a favored candidate if the nomination opens up and expected others might jump in once a Pence decision is known.
