Mike Pence could be Trump’s Vice President selection

The buzz around Donald Trump’s announcement of his vice president pick is centering itself on one man: Mike Pence.

Although nothing is confirmed, The Indianapolis Star is reporting that Pence “is dropping his re-election bid in Indiana to become Donald Trump’s running mate.” Trump’s campaign has announced it will officially make an announcement on who his pick is at 11 a.m. ET Friday. A campaign spokesman tweeted that the campaign is not confirming any vice presidential pick at this point and said a decision has not yet been made.

In case you were wondering who Mike Pence is, and what this means for the Republican party. Let’s take a look at his record.

Mike Pence is the current governor of Indiana, and has held that title since 2013. Before that he served as the representative of Indiana’s 6th Congressional District from 2000 to 2012. He’s also incredibly conservative, denies global warming, and gained notoriety for his role in the Indiana Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

In 2015, the self-described  “christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order” signed into law a controversial “religious freedom” bill, which spurred wide backlash. This law was the first of it’s kind and allowed businesses to deny service to anyone who didn’t fall into the morals of their religious beliefs. Ultimately, it was targeted towards queer people.

After the backlash, Pence later signed a revised version of the law. But Pence appeared to back the bill in an interview on Fox.

“Well let me say first and foremost, I stand by this law,” he said. “But I understand that the way that some on the left, and frankly some in the national media, have mischaracterized this law over the last week might make it necessary for us to clarify the law through legislation. And we were working through the day and into the night last night with legislative leaders to consider ways to do that.”

In Pence, Trump has added a social conservative who GOP strategists say will reassure rank-and-file Republicans that Trump can be trusted to pursue their interests. Pence will provide a disciplined counter to Trump’s improvisational campaign style. Pence also brings fundraising power and credibility on a wide range of policy issues that are important to conservatives.