Indiana’s Pence could deliver conservatives, if not women voters, to Trump

Published 6:45 pm Friday, July 8, 2016

WASHINGTON – Mike Pence is being applauded inside the Beltway as a potential running mate for Donald Trump, by those who say the Indiana governor can ease conservatives’ and evangelicals’ concerns about the presumptive Republican nominee.

While Pence may help Trump with those groups, others say he won’t do much to help win another important constituency – women.

Indiana’s senior senator and the co-leader of a group of religious members of  Congress both praised Pence’s potential selection on Friday.

Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., and Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., said Pence can help win groups of voters divided over Trump’s candidacy.

In a statement, Coats said Pence would be an “excellent” choice because of his “deep ties to evangelical voters and social conservatives, which would be an asset to the Trump campaign.”

Lankford, co-chairman of the more than 100-member Congressional Prayer Caucus, said in an interview, “I’m a big Mike Pence fan.”

Lankford said Pence has been a “defender of conservative values for a long time.” He also praised him for being able to “lay out the values in a way people can understand.”

Several Republican delegates who preferred Texas Sen. Ted Cruz over Trump in the GOP primaries also said the selection of Pence could help unite the party.

Pence served six terms in Congress before he was elected governor in 2012, and he is increasingly mentioned as a likely running mate for Trump as others in contention have dropped out.

Trump is scheduled to appear at a fundraiser in Indianapolis on Tuesday. The state chairman of Trump’s campaign, Rex Early, has said a 7:30 p.m. rally is also planned the same day.

However, Pence has sometimes been a polarizing force, himself, both as governor and in Congress. Some questioned whether he will turn off another group of voters that Trump has struggled to attract — women.

In May, a CBS News/New York Times poll found that 60 percent of women voters held an unfavorable view of Trump.

Pence has struggled with women voters, as well, especially amid controversy over social issues including a law he signed in March that restricts abortions in cases where a fetus has a disability.

In May, a Free Enterprise PAC poll of the state’s gubernatorial race found Pence losing to Democratic challenger John Gregg, 59 percent to 21 percent, among women under age 45.

Some women were so outraged by Pence’s support for the abortion restrictions they they started a Facebook page, Periods for Pence, and called his office to mockingly report the status of their menstrual cycles.

“When Mitt Romney took extreme positions on women’s health in 2012, it led to the largest gender gap in history –– with women, especially women of color, propelling Obama to victory,” said Deirdre Schifeling, executive director of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund.

“Attacking women’s health is not only terrible for women in this country, but it’s a failing political strategy,” she said.

Pence has repeatedly called for the federal government to withhold funding for Planned Parenthood.

However, Early said Trump’s problems with women are overblown. He noted that Trump won Indiana’s primary, “and a whole lot of (voters) were women.”

Lankford said he also “absolutely disagrees” that taking anti-abortion positions will turn off women voters.

“There are millions of women who are very outspoken about valuing life and children,” he said.

Lankford added that Trump, during a closed-door meeting with senators on Thursday, spoke more about reducing government regulations and increasing wages than he’s heard before.

Republican strategist John Feehery said Pence’s impact on women voters is still unknown.

“Trump has been strategically ambivalent about abortion, and there is no ambivalence in the Pence position,” said Feehery, who is president of QGA Public Affairs in Washington.

“Abortion is actually not a top issue in this campaign, which should work to Trump’s advantage but hasn’t because he has been so controversial on so many other issues,” he said.

Pence has also angered gay rights groups, including when he signed his state’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act last year. The bill allowed individuals or businesses to cite religious beliefs as a legal defense, which gay rights supporters said was tantamount to a license to discriminate.

Pence later signed an amendment to clarify the law, so that it cannot be used as a defense in cases involving the refusal of service, goods, facilities or accommodations.

Ann Kate, a Republican delegate for Cruz from Montgomery, Texas, said while she’s opposed to gay marriage, she’s in favor of civil unions.

“I don’t think I would be thrilled with Pence,” she said.

However, his stances are exactly what appeals to conservatives and evangelicals who have said they do not trust Trump’s commitment to their values.

Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinator of the Tea Party PAC, had particularly strong remarks about Trump in February, at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington.

She said at the time that Trump “loves himself more than the country. He loves himself more than the Constitution.”

In an interview Friday, Martin said, “Pence gives the opportunity for Republicans who are still undecided about Trump to vote for a more reasoned and principled ticket.”

“Mike Pence has a record of sticking to his principles,” she said.

Undecided women voters care about more issues than abortion, she added.

“A lot of people across the country right now are feeling like they can’t get ahead, like they’re walking on a treadmill,” she said.

Jim Jess, vice chairman of the Georgia Tea Party, said conservatives are concerned Trump will trample on the Constitutional limits of presidential power, just as Obama has done with executive orders on immigration and gun control.

“Our concern is that a man like Donald Trump, with a ‘huge’ personality, would operate as the executive he has been – by ordering this and decreeing that, without consulting Congress,” he said. “We don’t want to trade a Democrat tyrant for a Republican tyrant.”

Jess recalled hearing Pence speak at Hillsdale College in 2010 about on the Constitutional limits of presidential powers.

“He would be an excellent person to run with Trump, and would likely help to keep Trump balanced and following the Constitution,” he said.

Craig Dunn, a Republican delegate from Kokomo, Indiana, who has also raised concerns about Trump, acknowledged that Pence may not help much with Hispanic or moderate voters.

But he said Pence will bring more evangelicals to the polls.

In addition, Pence is still remembered on Capitol Hill as an effective glad-hander, which would offset Trump’s admitted inexperience working with Congress.

“Pence is a proven leader with both executive and legislative experience,” Coats said in his statement. “He’s served in leadership in Congress and understands how the federal government operates.”

Kery Murakami is the Washington, D.C. reporter for CNHI’s newspapers and websites. Reach him at kmurakami@cnhi.com