Missouri and Kansas Republicans like apparent pick of Mike Pence for GOP ticket

Is it still Mike Pence?

For most of Thursday, Republicans praised Donald Trump’s apparent choice of the Indiana governor for the vice presidential spot. Pence, they said, is thoughtful, organized, socially conservative — “yang to Trump’s yin,” said Jack Oliver, a longtime Republican fundraiser and party operative from Missouri.

By Thursday evening, though — as reports from the disaster in France trickled in — Trump’s decision-making process seemed to wobble. He canceled Friday’s announcement of the pick and told Fox News he had not made a “final, final” decision.

But numerous news organizations said Pence, a 57-year-old former congressman and radio show host, had indeed risen to the top of Trump’s vice presidential list and remained the almost certain choice. News outlets said Pence was in New York on Thursday evening.

The potential Pence pick brought an audible sigh of relief from GOP regulars just days before the party’s convention in Cleveland. Pence is a well-known and admired figure among party officials and strategists, and he is widely seen as the safest choice Trump could make.

“He’s a committed conservative,” said John Hancock, chairman of the Missouri Republican Party and a GOP convention delegate. “He’s a man of great integrity who understands executive leadership, and he also understands how to make the legislative branch work.”

Joel Goldstein, a professor at St. Louis University’s School of Law and a nationally known expert on the vice presidency, said Pence would bring a stylistic balance to the ticket.

“Mr. Trump needed to pick someone with political experience in D.C.,” Goldstein said. “Trump has no national security credential; Gov. Pence served on the House Foreign Affairs committee. Mr. Trump has a disunified party; Gov. Pence is popular with social conservatives.”

Pence served as a U.S. representative beginning in 2001. He successfully ran for governor of Indiana in 2012.

He’s often compared with Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, who is two years older than Pence. Both are highly religious public figures and have placed their faith at the center of their careers. Republicans in Kansas said the two men are personally close.

In 2012, Brownback’s then chief of staff, David Kensinger, left that position to work for Pence’s campaign for Indiana governor. State records show the Pence campaign paid Kensinger & Associates $90,000 for consulting services that year.

“Super guy, great pick,” Kensinger said Thursday. “A man of 21st century ideas and 19th century manners.”

Shortly after his election as Indiana governor, Pence pushed a package of tax cuts through the state legislature, a move that he said was designed to make the state more competitive. The template was Brownback’s tax cut experiment in Kansas.

But like many GOP governors and lawmakers, Pence was concerned about the initial rocky results in Kansas. The Indiana tax cut package was smaller than that in Kansas, largely based on that fear.

“Many of us felt that (Kansas) had been too aggressive,” Indiana GOP lawmaker Brandt Hershman told Politico in 2014. “We all like low taxes … but we have to ensure the stability of a revenue stream to provide basic services that our citizens expect.”

Pence has also pursued more moderate policies that put him at odds with many Republicans — and with Trump.

The governor has said banning Muslims from the United States, as Trump has suggested, is improper and unconstitutional. Pence expanded Medicaid coverage in Indiana, a decision that irritates many Republicans. He tried to find a compromise on immigration reform while in Congress.

Trump wants to build a wall between the U.S. and Mexico.

Yet few Republicans on Thursday said those disagreements were deal breakers for the ticket.

“Pence would be a stabilizer for the campaign,” said Danette Proctor, a Missouri GOP delegate from Willard. “He’s got Washington experience as well as state leadership experience.”

Missouri delegate Jennifer Finch of Kansas City was blunt. “I think Gov. Pence would make an excellent VP,” she said.

Pence is well known among Missouri Republicans. In 2015, for example, Pence campaigned for Sen. Roy Blunt in the state.

At the time, Pence was heavily involved in an effort in Indiana to define religious liberties — a result of the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage. He had just signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a measure that he said was written to protect religious practices. But some considered it discriminatory.

Blunt had offered a similar measure in 2012 in the Senate, a bill designed to allow religious objections to some provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

But the Indiana bill brought a storm of protests from gay, lesbian and transgender groups. Some threatened to boycott the state, and the NCAA — headquartered in Indianapolis — also expressed its displeasure. Concerts were canceled. Some cities banned travel to the state.

The pressure led Indiana to amend the law just a few weeks after its passage, a decision that angered some on the religious right. Some thought Pence’s defense of the measure had been lackluster.

But the controversy does not seem to have harmed Pence’s standing with some gay Republicans. Mark Anthony Jones, chairman of the Jackson County Republican Party and a Trump delegate from Missouri, said Pence’s overall positions are satisfactory.

“I don’t get bent out of shape over somebody’s difference of opinion with mine,” said Jones, who is gay. “I think he’ll be a wonderful vice president if he can win. I don’t have a problem with that.”

Pence’s pick might also complicate the Missouri governor’s race this year, some Republicans said. That’s because Pence is running for re-election as Indiana governor, but he would have to withdraw if he ended up on the ticket.

It was not clear Thursday night if Pence had taken that official step.

The withdrawal — required by noon Friday — would put the Indiana governor’s race in play, potentially drawing contributions and attention away from Missouri.

Missouri is thought to have one of the most important and competitive governor’s races in the nation in 2016. Democrat Chris Koster will face one of four GOP candidates: Eric Greitens, Catherine Hanaway, John Brunner or Peter Kinder.

While the possible Pence pick seemed popular with many Republicans on Thursday, some outsiders said it may have been predictable. Pence, they said, may have been one of just a handful of Republicans ready to join a ticket with Trump.

“Gov. Pence was better than … Speaker (Newt) Gingrich and Gov. Chris Christie,” Goldstein said, “both of whom had a lot of baggage and are pretty implausible picks.”

This story was originally published July 14, 2016 at 6:05 PM with the headline "Missouri and Kansas Republicans like apparent pick of Mike Pence for GOP ticket."