Mike Pence: 'I'm a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican — in that order'

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

published 21 July 2016

On Wednesday, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence accepted the Republican vice presidential nomination and gave the American people more insight into who he is.

"I'm a Christian, a conservative, and a Republican, in that order," he said. Pence shared that his grandfather was an immigrant, he was raised in southern Indiana with a cornfield in his backyard, and the heroes of his youth were John F. Kennedy and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. "We were raised to believe in hard work, in faith, and in family," he said, before introducing his mother, Nancy; wife of 31 years Karen; and children Charlotte, Audrey, and Michael.

Pence got in digs against Hillary Clinton, saying she should be disqualified from being president and would be a "third term of Obama," but spent a lot of time talking about Donald Trump. "He is a doer in a game usually reserved for talkers, and when he does his talking he doesn't tiptoe around the thousand new rules of political correctness," Pence said. "He's his own man, distinctly American, and where else would an independent spirit like this find a following than in the land of the free and the home of the brave." On the world stage, Trump will "lead from strength," Pence added, and he will "rebuild the military and stand with our allies, confront radical Islamic terrorism at its source, and destroy the enemies of our freedom." At the end of Pence's speech, Trump came out to shake his hand, the nominee's third appearance at the convention.