Who is Mike Pence, Republican candidate for president?

Former vice president threw his hat into the race in June

FILE - Former Vice President Mike Pence talks with local residents during a meet and greet on May 23, 2023, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) (Charlie Neibergall, Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

If Mike Pence was elected president in 2024, he would actually represent a rare success story when it comes to former vice presidents eventually becoming president.

Throughout American history, 19 candidates who have been vice president have run for the Oval Office. Of those 19, six have been elected president, but only three since 1968. Those three are Richard Nixon in 1968, George H.W. Bush in 1988 and Joe Biden in 2020.

But Pence will try to become the fourth since 1968 and the second consecutive past vice president to be elected president after joining the list of Republican candidates running for president in 2024.

The most obvious twist of irony is that Pence will now be an opponent of fellow candidate and former President Donald Trump, the man Pence served as vice president under when Trump was president from 2017 to 2021.

Now 64, Pence hopes his experience and lengthy career in politics will resonate with voters.

Before serving as vice president, Pence was the governor of Indiana and served in the U.S. House of Representatives.


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