Here are 10 things you should know about him:
1. Pence was born in 1959 in Columbus, Indiana. He has been a lifelong Indiana resident. He attended Hanover College and the Indiana University School of Law.
2. Pence was a Democrat in college. He was the youth coordinator for the Bartholomew County Democrats and voted for Jimmy Carter in 1980. Pence claims his senior thesis changed his views, due to a heavy emphasis on studying the American founding fathers. He left Hanover as a conservative Christian, according to Indianapolis Monthly.
3. Pence ran a conservative Indiana think-tank called the Indiana Policy Review Foundation from 1991 to 1994.
4. In 1994, he started a radio show that grew into a five-day-a-week show on local radio. He left his radio show to run for Congress in 2000. It was his second attempt having lost in 1990. He won the 2000 race.
5. As a congressman, Pence was more conservative than the average Republican. He frequently scored perfect on the American Conservative Union scorecard. Earlier in his career, he also scored well on the Club for Growth scorecard, but scored worse as time went on.
6. Pence is soft on illegal immigration. In 2006, he pushed George Bush on immigration reform. In 2013, Governor Pence signed into law a bill that lessened the restrictions on illegal immigrants being ineligible for in-state tuition rates at Indiana state colleges and public universities.
7. In 2015, Pence made a stand for religious liberty with the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) … only to cave soon after following uproar from the Left and the media. In the remarkable volte-face Pence let lawmakers “clarify” (gut) the law.
8. Under Pence, Indiana became one of the first states to opt-out of Common Core. However, Pence’s replacement plan was essentially a rebranding of Common Core standards. Many conservatives argued his plan was even more overbearing.
9. Despite his conservative promise as a congressman, Pence proved to govern as a progressive technocrat not a conservative. Much like John Kasich in Ohio, Pence has shifted to government centric policies on education, health care, and the economy.
10. Pence is widely known for giving one of the most tepid, hesitant endorsements in the history of presidential politics when he announced his support for Ted Cruz before the Indiana primary earlier this year. While endorsing Cruz he also spoke very highly of Trump. Perhaps a move that move could be paying off now.