When Ted Cruz and John Kasich dropped out of the Republican primaries on May 16, 2016, the path of
Donald Trump
to the nomination was formally cleared, although he now had a difficult choice to make, his running mate. The tycoon had a little less than two months to choose that person and quickly began the shuffling of names within the campaign.
By the middle of that same month, Jeff Sessions, Bob Corker, John Kasich, Mary Fallin, Richard Burr, Tom Cotton, Chris Christie, Joni Ernst, Mike Pence and Newt Gingrich had begun to be vetted by the Trump campaign, a process that was led by Arthur B. Culvahouse, Jr.
By early July, with the clock ticking, the final three were Christie, Pence and Gingrich. The first started out as the candidate's favorite, the second was the campaign's favorite and the third was the ideal choice for the Trump family.
The decision had to be made sooner rather than later, as Pence had to file paperwork to run again for Indiana governor on July 15, otherwise he would be out of a job if he was not ultimately elected.
"The night a flat tire changed the course of American history."
The Book
Piety & Power: Mike Pence and the Taking of the White House
by Tom LoBianco tells the interesting and eventful story of how the planets aligned so that the 2016 Republican ticket ended up being Trump-Pence.
Trump held a campaign rally in Indianapolis on July 12 for 25 major donors, which included a subsequent meeting with Pence, still acting governor of Indiana. As attendees were taking pictures with the candidate, it was the turn of Jeff Carwell, advisor and friend of potential running mate. "You two would be the best public-private partnership in history," Cardwell told him, prompting a smile from Trump, who confessed that his final choice would go through Gingrich and the local.
The tycoon's plane had a minor accident when landing in the city, causing a tire to go flat. This fortuitous situation resulted in Trump having to stay an extra night in Indiana. However, some allege that there was never such a pinprick and that it was a move by Paul Mananfort, campaign manager, so that the candidate could chat more with Pence and thus turn the balance in his favor.
That evening, Trump dined with Pence, his wife Karen and son Eric at Capital Grille, a swanky steakhouse at The Conrad hotel. According to Marty Obst, an aide to the then-governor, that night gave him the "home court advantage." The meal went so well that it was decided that Ivanka and Jared Kushner, who were to interview Pence at Trump Tower in New York the next day, would travel to Indianapolis to have breakfast with him.
According to the book, the Pences spent the evening picking flowers from the garden by lantern light to put as a centerpiece. They got up very early and went to get breakfast at a local bakery. To add a magical touch to the story, it all took place in the Broad Ripple neighborhood, the same neighborhood where she and Pence first met at St. Thomas Aquinas Church and where they lived after their marriage.
After breakfast came the interesting part. Trump separated Pence and they met in the furnished basement of the governor's mansion. The tycoon had several missed calls from Christie. "Hecalls me nonstop about this job. He calls me every 10 seconds; he would do anything for his job. He is dying to be vice president. And you, it's like you don't care." He reiterated: "I need assassins! Do you want this or not?".
I am pleased to announce that I have chosen Governor Mike Pence as my Vice Presidential running mate. News conference tomorrow at 11:00 A.M.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 15, 2016
Pence ruled out being this kind of guy, but made it clear to him that he would be able to help him pass legislation in Congress, manage the White House and build relationships with traditional GOP donors. "So if you want me to do it, I'm going to say, 'Yes.' If you don't want me to, I'm going to work really hard for you and the other guy. It doesn't matter. It doesn't really matter", he added according to Obst.
"Well, then why are you going through this process?" countered Trump, surprised by Pence's listless attitude. "Well, you're in my house, you tell me. Your whole family has come to see me. Obviously, the feeling is mutual, isn't it?" the Indiana governor finished off.
Trump left to see Gingrich, while Eric Trump spoke on the phone with Christie and calmed his anxiety. Late in the evening, Nick Ayers, another Pence aide, received a call from Trump's entourage telling him to expect a call back in 30 minutes. The communication materialized minutes later and the tycoon confirmed that he was the chosen one.
However, Trump still did not lose faith in Christie, whom he contacted the following morning to feel him out. With the clock ticking toward the deadline for whether or not Pence must decline his candidacy for governor, Ayers and Obst decided to take matters into their own hands.
After an escalated conversation with Mananfort, Trump called them in the wee hours of the morning and tried to calm them down. "Guys, what do you need me to do?" he said. The demand was clear, they had to announce Pence as soon as possible or they would reject the offer.
With an hour to go before the deadline, Trump picked up his phone and wrote this on Twitter, "I am pleased to announce that I have chosen Governor Mike Pence as my vice presidential running mate. Press conference tomorrow at 11 am."
Why did Trump choose Pence?
According to political analysts at the time, the Indiana governor brought everything that Trump did not have at the time: executive experience, experience in Congress, where he had served on the Foreign Relations Committee, plus an electoral appeal behind closed doors.
Moreover, it was a guarantee for all those Republicans who did not see in Trump a conservative they could trust. "His credentials in the eyes of grassroots conservatives and evangelicals are approaching unimpeachable, while tea partiers and the religious right continue to view Trump with considerable suspicion. His mantra on Capitol Hill was that he was"Christian, conservative and Republican, in that order," wrote analyst
David Hawkins
at the time.
When Pence almost replaced Trump on the ticket
On October 7, 2016, less than a month before the election, an Access Hollywood tape came to light in which Trump alleged that women would let him do anything because he was famous.
According to Bob Woordward's book, Fear: Trump in the White House, Reince Priebus told Trump that he should drop out of the campaign, ceding his place to Pence, who would have Condoleezza Rice, former Secretary of State, as his running mate.
Despite the outrage generated by the "October Surprise," the duo managed to win the presidential election, defeating Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine in the process.
Vice-Presidency
Pence was an ally of Trump in Congress, generally holding meetings with congressmen and senators to secure the votes needed to pass legislation, judges and even cabinet members.
In fact, he was the vice president who had to make the most tiebreakers in recent years. He had to show up to vote 13 times, more than his four previous predecessors, Joe Biden, Dick Cheney, Al Gore and Dan Quayle.
Pence traveled around the world, strengthening bilateral relations and accompanying the agenda of President Trump, who valued his opinion when making decisions.
January 6th
The relationship between the two would reach a turning point on January 6, 2021, when Pence was to validate the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which both he and Trump had fallen to the Biden-Harris ticket.
While the vice president hid with the secret service from those who stormed the Capitol, Trump posted a tweet that would be the beginning of the end in the relationship. "Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution.The United States is demanding the truth!" he wrote.
According to the Washington Post, the then-president did not bother to call him after the event, even in the days that followed. As revealed by Pence himself, the next time they met was at the White House and the first thing Trump did was ask him about his wife and daughter.
The vice-president then let him know that he was quite angry about what had happened. Without giving further details, he said that they spoke for more than an hour and a half, during which he perceived that "the president was deeply sorry". The conversation ended with Pence prompting Trump to pray and the two said their goodbyes as "amicably" as possible in the aftermath.
Two years later, their relationship has only cooled. Why? "After seeing him return to that kind of rhetoric in the spring of 2021, we 've gone our separate ways," Pence replied in the aforementioned interview.
"I know we did our duty that day. I know the president continues to have a strong difference of opinion about my responsibilities that day...We all face the judgment of history and I believe that, in the fullness of time, history will hold Donald Trump accountable for the events of Jan. 6," he added.
The two faced off indirectly in the 2022 midterm elections in the Republican primaries in Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin, and will face off again in the 2024 presidential election, but this time directly.
Pence filed the necessary paperwork to run for president with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and will make his intentions effective in the near future. It will be the first time that a former president will face his former vice-president in a primary after his term of office has ended. Franklin D. Roosevelt faced a challenge from John Garner in the 1940 Democratic primaries, when both were still president and vice president.
