Mike Pence
Mike Pence is named in 16 events across the Capture Cascade Timeline, from 2009 to 2025.
Quick facts
| Name | Michael Richard “Mike” Pence |
| Best known as | 48th Vice President of the United States (2017–2021) |
| Affiliation | Republican Party; Christian conservative / evangelical movement |
| Status | Out of office; ran an unsuccessful 2024 presidential campaign before withdrawing |
Key positions
| Role | Tenure |
|---|---|
| Vice President of the United States | 2017–2021 |
| Governor of Indiana | (pre-2017) |
| U.S. Representative (Indiana) | (pre-governorship) |
| Chair, Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity | 2017 (commission dissolved Jan. 2018) |
| Presidential candidate (Republican primary) | 2023–2024 (withdrew) |
Biography
Mike Pence served as Vice President of the United States from 2017 to 2021. A Christian conservative and former Indiana governor, he supplied evangelical credibility and institutional decorum to the Trump administration while implementing its agenda on abortion, religious liberty, and judicial appointments.
As Vice President, Pence acted at several documented decision points. In February 2017 he became the first Vice President in U.S. history to cast a tie-breaking Senate vote to confirm a Cabinet nominee, securing Betsy DeVos as Education Secretary (NPR; NBC News, Feb. 7, 2017). That same month, the administration forced out National Security Adviser Michael Flynn after disclosures about his contacts with Russia — a matter in which Pence had publicly defended Flynn before the account he had relied on proved false (NBC News; NPR, Feb. 2017). Later in 2017 Pence chaired the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity, established to investigate Trump’s claims of mass voter fraud; the commission found no evidence of widespread fraud and was dissolved in January 2018 (PBS NewsHour; NPR; Brennan Center, 2017–2018). In September 2019 a Pence trip to Ireland — including a stay at Trump’s Doonbeg resort across the country from his official meetings in Dublin — cost taxpayers nearly $600,000 in limousine bills alone (Washington Post; NBC News, Sept. 2019).
His most consequential act came on January 6, 2021, when he refused to accede to Trump’s demand that he unilaterally reject or delay certification of the electoral college votes. The refusal made him a target of the mob that stormed the Capitol, some of whom chanted for his hanging. Pence’s record marks the outer boundary of first-term compliance: loyal on policy implementation, unwilling to cross the specific constitutional line of election certification. He launched a 2024 presidential campaign and withdrew before the primaries.
Sources
- “Betsy DeVos Confirmed As Education Secretary With Vice President Mike Pence Breaking Tie,” NPR, Feb. 7, 2017.
- “Mike Pence casts tie-breaking vote to confirm Betsy DeVos as education secretary,” NBC News, Feb. 7, 2017.
- “The View From Russia: National Security Adviser Michael Flynn Resigns,” NPR, Feb. 14, 2017.
- “Report: Trump commission did not find widespread voter fraud,” PBS NewsHour, 2017; “Trump Dissolves Controversial Election Commission,” NPR, Jan. 3, 2018.
- “Pence’s Doonbeg detour cost nearly $600,000 in limousines. And that’s just the start,” Washington Post, Sept. 25, 2019.