Running on faith: Mike Pence follows his Christian ‘North Star’ in presidential race

Former Vice President Mike Pence has faith in his faith.

He is sticking with the motto “I am a Christian, conservative and a Republican, in that order” for the 2024 Republican presidential race. He is rolling it into a broader message centered on restoring America’s belief in God and “bringing back humility and faith to our nation’s capital.”

Mr. Pence this week cheered on the Iowa Legislature as it passed a six-week abortion ban, and he blasted out a fundraising email sharing his “born-again” experience. His camp also is airing an online advertisement in which his wife, Karen, says if she had to describe her husband of 38 years in one word it would be “faithful.”

These are the latest bullet points on a decades-old resume — spanning his time as a conservative radio host, member of Congress, governor of Indiana and wingman to former President Trump — where Mr. Pence has worn his faith on his sleeve.

“It is the foundation of Mike’s life both public and private,” Todd Huston, speaker of the Indiana House, told The Washington Times. “It really is his North Star.”

Mr. Pence is also convinced his adherence to Christian principles will connect with the culturally conservative voters he needs to win the GOP presidential race. Mr. Pence is stuck in a pack of candidates polling in single digits and far behind Mr. Trump, the front-runner.

“You’d be hard-pressed to find a faith leader to tell you Mike Pence wasn’t leading on the issues of most importance to them, but it shouldn’t surprise anybody because he has been doing that for 30 years,” a Pence adviser said.

The adviser pointed out Mr. Pence was the last person to interview Mr. Trump’s Supreme Court nominees, which led to an ideological overhaul of the court and the overturning of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that gave a nationwide right to abortion. They also noted he is the first vice president to have attended the annual March for Life demonstration.

The faith-based approach has been part of the winning blueprint in previous Iowa caucuses where Christian conservatives traditionally make up more than half of the voters.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas touted their evangelical Christian beliefs on their way to winning the Republican caucuses in 2008 and 2016, respectively. Former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania leaned into his Catholic faith for his 2012 win.

Though their campaigns ultimately flamed out, their Iowa victories allowed them to fight another day, which is what Mr. Pence is looking to do after the Jan. 15 contest.

“It is a difficult path for him, but it is one where I think his campaign approach is one church at a time, one voter meeting at a time, one step forward. It is very much the Santorum model,” said Christopher Budzisz, a political science professor at Loras College in Dubuque. “Iowa has a long history of rewarding candidates that make direct appeals to evangelicals and Christian conservatives.”

That history will loom over the Family Leadership’s Principle Over Politics summit this week in Des Moines.

Several Republican White House aspirants — including Mr. Pence, Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott — will have the chance to test drive their message at the summit. It is billed as the “Midwest’s largest gathering of Christians seeking cultural transformation in the family, church, government and more.”

Better yet, they will not have to compete against Mr. Trump for their attention. The ex-president’s campaign cited a scheduling conflict when announcing he would skip the event.

For Mr. Trump, the no-show is a bit of a gamble as there is a lingering sense that evangelical leaders are open to an alternative. But it is an open question whether his rivals can seal the deal with Iowa’s religious voters.

The summit will play out days after Mr. Trump attacked Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds for staying neutral in the 2024 presidential race, and the GOP-led Legislature muscled through a six-week abortion ban.

Mrs. Reynolds, a Republican, plans to sign the bill into law Friday at the Family Leadership gathering. However, the bill faces a legal challenge.

Mr. Pence has cheered on Mrs. Reynolds and celebrated the anti-abortion proposal, further distancing himself from Mr. Trump, who has been reluctant to endorse strict abortion bans and says the issue should be left to the states.

“I couldn’t be more grateful for the stand for the right to life that Republicans in the Iowa House and Senate have taken. I look forward to the day, this coming Friday when Gov. Kim Reynolds will sign that heartbeat bill into law,” Mr. Pence told Radio Iowa on Wednesday. “I think it’s evidence that life is winning in Iowa and life is winning in America and I join pro-lifers across the country in just cheering them on.”

Mr. Scott, meanwhile, is telling viewers in a new television ad he released this week that the U.S. is “founded on a Judeo-Christian rock.”

“Our rights don’t come from government. … They come from our creator. If we want a better America, I think it starts with faith in God and faith in each other,” Mr. Scott says in the video.

Mr. DeSantis, in a recent CBN interview, provided a glimpse into how his faith grounds him. He said his upbringing in the Catholic Church instilled in him discipline and a work ethic and kept him grounded in truth.

“I always believed that it doesn’t matter where you start,” Mr. DeSantis said. “If you put that nose to the grindstone and work hard, God has a plan for you and you can do well in this country.”

Mr. DeSantis also has pointed out that Mr. Trump opposed Florida’s new heartbeat law that bars abortions once the fetus has a detectible heartbeat, which is usually between five and six weeks of pregnancy.

Mr. DeSantis signed the heartbeat law in April.

Mrs. Haley has talked about her conversion to Christianity from the Sikh religion of her Indian parents.

As for Mr. Pence, he has been sharing the story of how, at age 18 during a visit to a theological seminary, the words of John 3:16 convinced him to pray and “receive Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.”

“A decision that changed my life forever. I was born again,” he said in a fundraising letter this week. “Since that moment, faith has been a central part of my life and today I am not afraid to say I am a Christian, conservative and a Republican, in that order.”