https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/753965070003109888
Honored to join @realDonaldTrump and work to make America great again. https://t.co/J8esm9LU6g
— Mike Pence (@Mike_Pence) July 15, 2016
11:15 a.m. Pence withdraws from governor’s race
Now that he’s Donald Trump’s running mate, Mike Pence has withdrawn from the Indiana governor’s race.
The first-term Republican governor was seeking re-election, but state law bars him from running for that office and also appearing on the ballot as a candidate for vice president.
The deadline for Pence to exit the race was noon Friday. One of the governor’s aides filed the paperwork with the Indiana Secretary of State’s office a few minutes after Trump announced that Pence would join him on the Republican ticket.
Trump had originally planned to make his announcement Friday, but called off the formal event in the wake of the deadly truck attack in France. Trump says he’ll now hold a news conference on Saturday morning.
10:52 a.m. Trump tweets that Pence is his running mate
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — About an hour before the deadline for Indiana Gov. Mike Pence to withdraw from his re-election bid Friday, Donald Trump announced on Twitter that he’d chosen the Republican as his vice presidential candidate.
If Pence does so by noon Friday, there’ll be a domino effect across various congressional and state races in Indiana as Republicans jockey to get on the November ballot.
Indiana law bars a candidate from seeking state and federal offices at the same time, so Pence needs to file paperwork with state election officials to take his name off the gubernatorial ballot so state Republican leaders can pick a new candidate for governor.
Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb and U.S. Reps. Todd Rokita and Susan Brooks all have signaled interest in the Indiana gubernatorial nomination. They face the same deadline to drop off the November ballot in their races, although GOP officials could later restore any of them to a vacancy.
None had filed withdrawal paperwork by midmorning Friday.
The state Republican committee would pick the candidate to oppose Democratic nominee John Gregg, the former Indiana House speaker who Pence narrowly beat in 2012.
The 22-member Republican committee would have 30 days to select a new nominee for governor, but former state Republican Chairman Mike McDaniel said he expects a decision will be sooner.
“Every one of those days are eating into the campaign,” McDaniel said. “They can’t wait.”
One big name that won’t be in the Republican mix is Pence’s popular two-term predecessor, Mitch Daniels. The current Purdue University president announced Thursday he won’t seek the job.
10:12 a.m. Possible announcement on Saturday
WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald Trump has offered Mike Pence the job of vice president, and Trump aides have told the Indiana governor the formal announcement could be made on Saturday.
That’s according to a Republican with direct knowledge of the process, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to publicly discuss the details of Trump’s search for a running mate.
Trump made the offer Thursday afternoon, before Pence traveled late in the day to New York, the Republican said. The announcement had been planned for Friday morning in midtown Manhattan, but Trump delayed his plans after the truck attack in Nice, France, that left more than 80 people dead.
http://www.therepublic.com/2016/07/14/the-mike-pence-story-from-a-youth-in-columbus-to-candidate-for-vice-president/
The staunchly conservative Pence, who is 57, served six terms in Congress before being elected governor and could help Trump navigate Capitol Hill. He’s well-regarded by evangelical Christians, particularly after signing a law that critics said would have allowed businesses to deny service to gay people for religious reasons.
The announcement delay created a complication for Pence. He’s up for re-election in Indiana, but state law requires him to withdraw from that race by noon Friday if he’s joining Trump on the Republican ticket.
Pence’s team has drawn up the paperwork for the withdrawal, the Republican said, but as of Friday morning, the documents had not been submitted.
Trump’s frenetic decision-making process was made more complicated by the fact that the businessman was in California Thursday for a series of fundraisers, isolated from nearly all of his closest advisers, including his three adult children and his campaign chairman, Paul Manafort.
Frustration among Trump and his advisers mounted because of news reports that Pence was the pick, sending top aides scrambling to insist no final decision had been made.
The billionaire said in a series of television interviews Thursday night that he’d not yet settled on a “final, final” choice, leaving open the possibility the unpredictable presumptive nominee could change his mind.
But Manafort said Friday morning he believed Trump had “reached a decision but he isn’t prepared to announce it yet.”
Manafort dismissed suggestions in an interview on Fox News Channel that Trump was having second thoughts about his choice. He said Trump was planning on making an announcement this weekend.
A second Republican said Friday he spoke to Trump on Thursday morning, and the New York real estate mogul said he had chosen Pence and would be calling the governor to make the offer and ask him to fly to New York.
That Republican also spoke on condition of anonymity, because the person was not authorized to publicly discuss the conversation.
Trump’s prospective choice of Pence as his running mate adds political experience — and a dose of unflappability — to the Republican presidential ticket.
Pence would be a reliably conservative No. 2 with a calm demeanor and deep ties to Washington. His apparent selection signals Trump is serious about addressing GOP concerns about his own conservative credentials and lack of Washington experience.
Trump also seriously considered offering the running mate post to former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, according to people familiar with the process.
In a brief interview with The Associated Press Friday morning, Gingrich said he had still not been told by Trump that he would not be the choice.
After spending much of Thursday in Indianapolis, Pence flew to New York. Local television stations posted video showing him arriving at a private airport outside New York and then entering a hotel.
Trump has little time to re-schedule his announcement. The Republican convention kicks off in Cleveland Monday.
Top party officials are already in Cleveland, where a committee voted late Thursday to rebuff a push to let delegates vote for any presidential candidate they’d like. It was a major blow to Republican foes of Trump who have been working to try to thwart his nomination.
Pence would have the backing of GOP leaders and ease some of their concerns about Trump’s political inexperience and volatile temperament.
Pence also has influential allies in Trump’s inner circle. But some of Trump’s children, who have been closely advising their father, were said to favor different candidates.
