Mike Pence

Michael Richard "Mike" Pence was born on June 7, 1959, in Columbus, Indiana, as one of six children of Nancy Jane (née Cawley) and Edward J. Pence, Jr. His parents were Irish Catholic Democrats and he was raised in a politically inclined religious household. His father was a U.S. Army veteran who operated a series of gas stations.

Mike graduated from Columbus North High School in 1977. Growing up in a family with political leanings, he idolized former President John F. Kennedy, and volunteered for the Bartholomew County Democratic Party during his school days.

He proceeded to earn a B.A. in history from Hanover College in 1981 following which he studied law at the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law, receiving his J.D. in 1986.

Mike Pence began his career as an attorney in private practice. Around this time he also tried to enter into politics and ran unsuccessfully for a congressional seat in 1988 and 1990. He did not give up though and was able to become the president of the Indiana Policy Review Foundation in 1991.

In 1994, he began a career in talk radio and hosted ‘The Mike Pence Show’, which was based in WRCR-FM in Rushville. Syndicated by Network Indiana, the show was aired on weekdays on 18 stations throughout the state. Starting from 1995, he also hosted a weekend political talk show out of Indianapolis.

He ended his broadcast career in the late 1990s and ran for Congress again in 2000, this time getting elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in Indiana's 2nd Congressional District. Over the course of his political career he was re-elected four more times by comfortable margins. Pence served as the chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a group of conservative House Republicans, from 2005 to 2007.

His increasingly successful career prompted Pence to announce in 2011 that he would seek the Republican nomination for governor of Indiana in 2012. In November 2012, Pence won the gubernatorial election, defeating Democratic nominee John R. Gregg and Libertarian nominee Rupert Boneham. He was sworn in as the 50th governor of Indiana on January 14, 2013.

As the governor, he gained much popularity for his tax reforms. He was successful in cutting state taxes, and also reduced the burden of income tax and eliminated the inheritance tax. He also implemented tax reforms aimed at strengthening the state’s competitive edge in attracting new investment and good-paying jobs for residents of Indiana.

As the Governor of the State of Indiana, Mike Pence successfully achieved the largest state tax cut in Indiana history while also lowering the business personal property tax and corporate income tax, and eliminating the inheritance tax. He also worked with the Indiana General Assembly to craft a balanced budget that maintains strong reserves for the State and continues to generate a surplus.