Array
Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence will launch his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination on June 7, three sources familiar with the plans told Reuters, setting him up for a battle with his ex-boss, former President Donald Trump.
Here are key facts about Pence’s life and career:
Pence, 63, was born into an Irish Catholic family of six children in Indiana. His older brother, Greg, is a Republican in the U.S. House of Representatives.
In his youth, Pence was Democrat along with the rest of his family – he voted for Jimmy Carter in 1980 and considered John F. Kennedy to be a role model.
However, in college he converted to evangelical Christianity, to his mother’s disappointment, and was influenced by former President Ronald Reagan to join the Republican Party.
“His ideals inspired me to leave the party of my youth and become a Republican like he did,” Pence said of Reagan in 2016.
