50 Fun Facts About Mike Pence

What landed on Mike Pence's head for about two minutes during his 2020 debate with Kamala Harris?

A fly settled on Pence's white hair and stayed put while he kept talking. It spawned internet memes and a popular Halloween costume.

Who got a young Mike Pence's vote in the 1980 presidential election, years before he became a conservative Republican?

Jimmy Carter won his vote: Pence grew up a Democrat and volunteered for the party as a teenager. He credits Ronald Reagan with pulling him to the right during college.

What kind of animal was Marlon Bundo, the Mike Pence family pet that flew on Air Force Two?

A rabbit, Marlon Bundo was the first of his kind to travel on Air Force Two. He went on to feature in four children's books and had his own Instagram following.

As Indiana governor, Mike Pence did state business on a personal email account with which provider, later hacked?

AOL hosted the account, which hackers broke into in 2016 to send his contacts fake pleas for money. The story stung because Pence had attacked Hillary Clinton over her private email server.

Mike Pence told a reporter in 2002 that he would never do what alone with a woman other than his wife?

He would not eat dinner alone with another woman, a practice long known as the Billy Graham rule after the evangelist who followed it. From 2017 it was also called the Mike Pence rule.

The cast of which Broadway musical addressed Vice President-elect Mike Pence from the stage after a 2016 performance?

Hamilton actor Brandon Victor Dixon read a statement the cast wrote with creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. Pence said he was not offended, though Donald Trump demanded an apology.

Which late-night show published a best-selling parody of a children's book about Mike Pence's pet Marlon Bundo?

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver released its parody a day before the Pence family's book, and it went straight to number one on Amazon. Its proceeds went to The Trevor Project and AIDS United.

As a 1990s Indiana talk radio host, Mike Pence described himself as a decaf version of which broadcaster?

Rush Limbaugh was the model: Pence saw himself as just as conservative but far less bombastic. His own daily show was syndicated across Indiana from 1994.

Rupert Boneham, who ran against Mike Pence for Indiana governor as a Libertarian, found fame on which reality show?

Survivor made Boneham a fan favorite, and viewers once voted him a million-dollar prize. In 2012 he took most of the votes that did not go to Pence or his Democratic rival.

Which relative of Mike Pence won his old Indiana congressional seat in 2018 and once acted as his decoy?

His brother Greg, the oldest of six Pence siblings, held the seat from 2019 to 2025. The two look so alike that Greg once drew reporters away from Mike during the 2016 running-mate search.

Which Democratic senator did Mike Pence face in the 2016 vice presidential debate at Longwood University?

Tim Kaine was Hillary Clinton's running mate, and a CNN poll gave Pence the win by 48 percent to 42. Wisconsin governor Scott Walker had played Kaine in Pence's rehearsals.

Mike Pence cast the first tie-breaking Senate vote ever to confirm a Cabinet member, for which 2017 nominee?

Betsy DeVos became education secretary only after Pence broke a fifty-fifty tie. He went on to cast 13 tie-breaking votes, more than his four predecessors combined.

Which former vice president's example reportedly inspired Mike Pence to certify the 2020 election on January 6, 2021?

Al Gore had presided over the count of his own narrow defeat twenty years earlier, when Pence was a newly elected congressman. Pence in turn announced his own ticket's loss.

Players from which NFL team knelt during the anthem before Mike Pence walked out of a Colts home game in 2017?

San Francisco 49ers players knelt, and Pence left the stadium soon afterwards. CNN put the cost of his Air Force Two travel to attend the game at about $242,500.

Which Republican senator did Indiana governor Mike Pence endorse days before the state's 2016 presidential primary?

Ted Cruz got Pence's endorsement but lost the Indiana primary to Donald Trump. By mid-July Pence had joined the Trump ticket as his running mate.

Which Supreme Court justice swore in Mike Pence as vice president at the January 2017 inauguration?

Clarence Thomas administered the oath, which made Pence the first vice president sworn in by an African-American justice.

In which Christian tradition was Mike Pence raised before he became an evangelical in college?

Catholic by upbringing, Pence attended parochial school and later worked as a youth minister. He kept going to Mass after his conversion, which is where he met his wife.

Which famous hospital did Mike Pence tour in April 2020 without the face mask its own policy required?

Mayo Clinic rules required masks, but Pence said he wanted to look staff in the eye. He wore one two days later at a ventilator plant, then admitted he should have worn one at the clinic.

Which country did Mike Pence accuse of predatory economics and election meddling in a 2018 Hudson Institute speech?

China was the target, and The New York Times likened the speech to the declaration of a new Cold War. Pence said Beijing wanted a different American president.

Which Republican elder reportedly told Mike Pence in early 2021 that he had no power to block the election result?

Dan Quayle, a fellow Hoosier and former vice president, urged Pence to follow the Senate rules and certify. The exchange became a centerpiece of the Woodward and Costa book Peril.

Which governor did Mike Pence replace as head of Donald Trump's presidential transition team in November 2016?

Chris Christie had also been a finalist to be Trump's running mate, the job that went to Pence. Days after the election he lost the transition post to Pence as well.

Which Democrat drew criticism from his own side in 2019 for calling Mike Pence a decent guy?

Joe Biden made the remark in a speech in Omaha, then walked it back after objections over Pence's record on LGBT issues. The two had spoken by phone before Pence took office in 2017.

Which phrase from the oath of office did Mike Pence choose as the title of his 2022 memoir?

So Help Me God came out in November 2022 and recounts his break with Donald Trump over January 6. It was the first of two books he agreed to write for Simon & Schuster.

In which country is Doonbeg, where Mike Pence's ancestors lived and where he stayed at a Trump resort in 2019?

Ireland was home to his mother's family, and Pence stayed in Doonbeg although his meetings were 180 miles away in Dublin. The limousine bill alone came to $599,000.

Which medal, earned by his father in the Korean War, does Mike Pence display in his office?

The Bronze Star was awarded to Edward Pence in 1953. His son keeps it beside the commendation letter and a photograph from the presentation.

Mike Pence's father Edward ran a group of which kind of business in Columbus, Indiana?

Gas stations supported a family of six children. Edward Pence died in 1988, the year his son Mike first ran for Congress and lost.

What did surgeons implant in Mike Pence in April 2021, three months after he left office?

A pacemaker was fitted to correct a slow heartbeat. Pence had been diagnosed in 2016 with a heart condition that caused no symptoms at the time.

At which small Indiana school did Mike Pence study history and later work as an admissions counselor?

Hanover College is where Pence led his fraternity chapter and where his politics began shifting to the right. He stayed on for two years after graduating to recruit new students.

Which country did Mike Pence visit in June 2023, the first Republican presidential candidate of that race to go?

Ukraine hosted Pence for a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He said the country's military should get what it needed to defeat Russian aggression.

In which city did Mike Pence end his 2024 presidential campaign at a Republican Jewish Coalition meeting?

Las Vegas heard the surprise announcement on October 28, 2023, less than five months after he entered the race. Pence told the crowd it had become clear this was not his time.

Mike Pence formally announced his 2024 presidential run on which personal occasion in June 2023?

His birthday, his 64th, came two days after he filed the paperwork. Much of his campaigning then took place in Iowa.

Mike Pence met his future wife Karen while she was playing which instrument at a church in Indianapolis?

Guitar in hand, Karen was playing at a service when they met. Their first date was ice skating at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, and they married in June 1985.

Karen Pence, the wife of Mike Pence, taught which subject for twelve years at a Christian school in Virginia?

Art was her subject and remains her craft. She paints watercolors and illustrated her daughter Charlotte's children's book about the family pet.

On the grounds of which Washington institution did Mike Pence live while serving as vice president?

The Naval Observatory has housed every vice president since Walter Mondale moved in in 1977. The Pences added a beehive and a basketball court to the grounds.

Which advisory body, revived by executive order in 2017, did Mike Pence chair through eight meetings?

The National Space Council had been disbanded in 1993 before Donald Trump brought it back with Pence in the chair. It was disbanded again in December 2025.

In 2017 Mike Pence became the first sitting vice president to set up his own what?

A PAC, or political action committee, named the Great America Committee was set up in May 2017 and run by two former campaign aides. Pence called talk that he would run in 2020 laughable and absurd.

After losing his 1990 House race, Mike Pence wrote an essay apologizing for his use of what?

Negative ads had backfired, and in the essay he vowed never again to belittle an opponent. He spent much of the 1990s as a talk show host before winning the seat in 2000.

Besides chairing the Republican Study Committee, Mike Pence belonged to which other conservative group in the House?

The Tea Party Caucus suited a congressman who had already defied his own party's president by opposing No Child Left Behind and the Medicare drug benefit.

Who beat Mike Pence by 168 votes to 27 in the 2006 contest to become House minority leader?

John Boehner won easily, but Pence recovered. In 2009 he was elected unopposed to chair the House Republican Conference, then the party's third-ranking post.

Which lieutenant governor replaced Mike Pence on the Indiana ballot in 2016 and went on to win the governorship?

Eric Holcomb had been lieutenant governor for under five months when Pence left the race to join Donald Trump's ticket. He beat Democrat John Gregg that November.

At which Pennsylvania school did Mike Pence begin teaching political science courses in September 2024?

Grove City College named him its first Distinguished Fellow for Faith and Public Life. He taught alongside the college's president.

Which Indianapolis company cancelled a $40 million expansion over the religious freedom law Mike Pence signed in 2015?

Angie's List shelved a headquarters project that would have brought 1,000 jobs. A week after signing the law, Pence approved changes meant to prevent discrimination.

What was JustIN, a project Indiana governor Mike Pence scrapped in 2015 after about a week of criticism?

A state news outlet, with stories written partly by press secretaries, was the plan. Journalists around the country likened it to the state-run media of authoritarian countries.

Which magazine named Mike Pence one of the ten best members of Congress in 2008?

Esquire praised a traditional conservatism that had repeatedly pitted him against his own party's elders. Around the same time he was being mentioned as a possible presidential candidate.

Mike Pence's daughter Charlotte co-wrote a documentary on elder fraud that won which kind of regional award in 2014?

Emmy honors for the Lower Great Lakes region went to Fleeced, made while she studied screenwriting at DePaul University. She was its co-writer and associate producer.

Mike Pence's daughter Charlotte found the family pet Marlon Bundo for a student film on which website?

Craigslist led her to a seller who answered her question about the price by inviting an offer, a reply that inspired the pet's Brando-style name. She paid about $20.

Under Governor Mike Pence, Indiana became the first state to repeal which set of school standards in 2014?

Common Core was dropped after Pence called for its repeal in his 2014 State of the State address. Indiana had been among the states that first adopted it.

At which Indiana university did Mike Pence give the 2017 commencement address while some graduates walked out?

Notre Dame traditionally invites a new president in his first year, but in 2017 it turned to Pence instead. Some graduates walked out as he began to speak.

At the 2018 Winter Olympics, Mike Pence avoided sharing a table with the ceremonial head of state of which country?

North Korea's Kim Yong-nam would have sat with him at an event hosted by South Korea's president. Pence instead met four defectors, with the father of Otto Warmbier as his guest.

At what kind of 1978 event in Kentucky did Mike Pence say he made his personal commitment to Christ?

A music festival called Ichthus, held in Wilmore, the home of Asbury College, was the setting. Pence was then in his first year as a college student.