Mike Pence

 Born on June 7, 1959. Michael Richard Pence is an American politician. He was the 48th Vice President of the United States between 2017 and 2021 under President Donald Trump. A part of the Republican Party, he previously served as the 50th governor of Indiana from 2013 to 2017. Pence was also a U.S. House of Representatives member from 2001 to 2013. He graduated from Hanover College and earned a law degree from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law before entering private practice. After losing two times for an open Congress seat in the years 1988 and 1990, he became a conservative television and radio talk host from 1994 until 1999. He was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 2000, and was a member of the 2nd district in Indiana from 2001 to 2003 and the 6th district of Indiana from 2003 to 2013. He was chairman of the Republican Study Committee from 2005 until 2007 and also served as the chair of the House Republican Conference from 2009 to 2011, the third-highest position in the House Republican leadership. Pence said he was a "principled conservative" and a ardent supporter of the Tea Party movement, saying he was "a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican in this order.Pence successfully sought the Republican nomination for the 2012 Indiana governorship when the term-limits of Mitch Daniels retired. He was defeated by the former Indiana House speaker John R. Gregg in the tightest to a gubernatorial race in fifty years. When he was elected governor in January 2013, Pence initiated the largest tax cut in Indiana's past and was adamant about securing more funds for private education initiatives. Pence has signed legislation to restrict abortions, including ones that ban abortions if the primary reason behind the procedure was due to the fetus's gender, race, or disability. Pence also signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. He was met with fierce protests from prominent businessmen, moderate members of his party and LGBT advocates. Pence was required to amend the RFRA to prohibit discrimination based upon sexual orientation, gender identity and other factors. This led to him being removed from his governorship reelection campaign. On January 20, 2017 Pence was elected vice president of United States. As vice president, Pence chaired the National Space Council since it was established in June of 2017. Pence was appointed vice president of the White House Coronavirus Task Force in February 2020. The task force was established as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Trump and Pence lost their bids for reelection in 2020 to Joe Biden, Kamala Harris and Kamala Hanson. The Trump campaign refused to concede and made false claims about fraud in the elections. They also have filed more than 86 failed lawsuits across multiple states. Despite Trump's request to overturn the election results and the assault on the U.S. Capitol during the count of Electoral College votes, Pence, in his position as President of the Senate, certified the Biden-Harris ticket as a winner in the presidential election. Pence has distanced himself from Trump by supporting candidates in a variety of Republican primary elections that are against Trump's nominee.