Brussels Forum Session: Democracy on the Line: A View From the United States
Michael R. Pence served as the vice president of the United States between 2017 and 2021. He is now a distinguished visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation and the Ronald Reagan presidential scholar at Young America’s Foundation, a conservative youth organization.
Pence served as governor of the US state of Indiana from 2013 to 2017. While in office, he increased school funding, expanded school choice, created the first state-funded pre-kindergarten plan, and prioritized career and technical education in high school. He also enacted the largest income tax cut in Indiana’s history and invested in roads and schools while producing balanced budgets that left the state with strong reserves and AAA credit ratings. The state’s unemployment rate fell by half during his term.
Starting in 2001, Pence represented east-central Indiana for 12 years in the US House of Representatives, where he championed limited government, fiscal responsibility, economic development, and educational opportunity. His Republican colleagues unanimously elected him to serve as House Republican Study Committee chairman and House Republican Conference chairman.
Before going to Congress, Pence practiced law, led the Indiana Policy Review Foundation, and hosted The Mike Pence Show, a syndicated talk radio show and a weekly television public affairs program in Indiana.
Pence attended Indiana University School of Law and holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Hanover College.