Republican Donald Trump ended weeks of speculation Friday by naming Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate, a choice meant to bolster the presumptive nominee with Midwestern voters and the party’s conservative base.
The selection was immediately cheered by many of the same conservative leaders who haven’t yet endorsed Mr. Trump, but it also spotlights some of the policy and stylistic stances that make the presumptive Republican nominee an outlier in the party he now leads.
During the primary, Mr. Trump frequently criticized the war in Iraq; Mr. Pence voted to support it. Mr. Trump is a vocal critic of free trade; Mr. Pence is a strong proponent. Mr. Trump has panned Republican-led efforts to overhaul Medicare and Social Security; Mr. Pence has championed many of those efforts. And, of course, Mr. Pence endorsed Mr. Trump’s top rival, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
Temperamentally, the two Republicans are very different: Mr. Trump is a New York billionaire who regularly courts controversy, relishes name-calling and makes no secret of his mutable policy views, while Mr. Pence is a low-key Midwestern governor who presents himself as an always-upbeat conservative crusader with deeply held convictions, and whose net worth was less than $400,000 when he left the House.
Messrs. Trump and Pence are hardly the first ticket to present a contrast of personalities or policy beliefs. Ronald Reagan picked George H.W. Bush in 1980 to shore up his support from the GOP’s establishment wing, while a polished, young Barack Obama picked the older, plain-spoken Joe Biden in 2008 to give their ticket more experience.
The months ahead will test whether Messrs. Trump and Pence can fuse their personal differences and unify a Republican Party that remains unusually splintered.
In many ways, picking Mr. Pence represents one of the few conventional decisions Mr. Trump has made in this campaign. The uncharacteristic choice and its rollout were amplified on Friday.
Hours after Mr. Trump confirmed his pick in a Twitter post and Mr. Pence arrived in New York in anticipation of morning joint appearance, campaign aides had to rebut multiple reports that Mr. Trump had second thoughts and even inquired about dumping the governor as his running mate.
“Totally false,” Mr. Trump said in an interview on Friday afternoon.
WSJ’s Shelby Holliday takes a closer look at the life and political career of Gov. Pence
“There’s no way to predict chemistry,” said Kevin Sheridan, a top aide to the last GOP vice-presidential nominee, Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, during the 2012 campaign. “If it works, the rollout will be forgotten. If it doesn’t, people will point to it as the first sign of a troubled marriage.”
Mr. Pence considers himself a “Happy Warrior” in the mold of one of his political heroes, the late Jack Kemp. The former congressman has referred to himself as “a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order.” Congressional aides used to joke about his penchant for wearing short-sleeved button-up shirts with a tie during his time in the House.
Mr. Trump and his running mate both favor tax cuts as a way to spur the economy. Mr. Pence has consistently championed tax cuts since taking over as governor in 2013, leading efforts to lower Indiana’s income tax and reduce others. The two Republicans also see eye-to-eye about increasing the defense budget, cracking down on illegal immigration and protecting gun rights.
Their views also align on most social issues, but Mr. Trump is a recent convert in opposing abortion and gay marriage. Mr. Pence has a much longer record of fighting to restrict both. He signed legislation making it easier for business owners to deny service to gay couples, before a national outcry forced him to soften the law.
Their biggest splits come on trade and foreign policy. Mr. Trump regularly bashes the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq. Mr. Pence was an early and consistent supporter of the war, including then-President George W. Bush’s controversial decision to boost troop levels in 2007. Mr. Pence has also been critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin and called for the U.S. to strengthen the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Mr. Trump has been a fierce critic of NATO and pledges to work more closely with Mr. Putin.
Mr. Pence criticized Mr. Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the country, following the shooting rampage in San Bernardino, Calif., last year. “Calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. are offensive and unconstitutional,” Mr. Pence said in a Twitter post at the time.
Differences between the two men could serve them well with some of the conservative activists who are reluctant to back Mr. Trump. “Mike Pence would be an outstanding vice president,” said David McIntosh, a former Indiana congressman and president of the Club for Growth, which spent millions trying to deny Mr. Trump the nomination.
Mr. McIntosh said he hoped Mr. Pence “will be effective in pulling the Republican ticket toward economic conservatism and limited government.”
Democrats quickly sought to turn the pick against Mr. Trump, with Hillary Clinton’s campaign dubbing the Indiana governor the “most extreme VP pick in a generation.”
“By picking Mike Pence as his running mate, Donald Trump has doubled down on some of his most disturbing beliefs by choosing an incredibly divisive and unpopular running mate known for supporting discriminatory politics and failed economic policies that favor millionaires and corporations over working families,” said John Podesta, chairman of Hillary for America. “Voters deserve better than more of their divisive policies and ‘me-first’ economic proposals.”
Mr. Pence could help Mr. Trump expand his appeal in the Midwest, a critical battleground, given Mr. Trump’s weakness in some of the more racially diverse battlegrounds, including Colorado and Virginia. But the Indiana governor is relatively unknown nationally. A CBS News poll out this week found 86% of registered voters are either undecided about whether to view Mr. Pence positively or negatively, or don’t know enough to form an opinion.
—Damian Paletta
contributed to this article.
