Pence is Trump’s Running Mate

By COLlive reporter

Indiana Governor Mike Pence will be the vice presidential candidate in the upcoming general elections, Republican candidate Donald Trump announced on Twitter.

Pence, 57, is an American politician and attorney who is serving as the 50th Governor of Indiana, taking office in 2013.

The choice helped bolster support among some conservatives skeptical about his policies, a crucial step as he prepares to accept the party’s nomination next week, news media said.

Some conservatives who had fought against Trump’s ascendancy in the Republican nominating race welcomed his announcement that he had picked Pence, a well-known social and evangelical conservative.

Other conservatives were also heartened by Trump’s VP pick, which the businessman announced in a tweet ahead of a joint appearance in his hometown of New York on Saturday.

“Pence is a principled conservative, man of faith, and talented messenger for Republican ideas,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

Rabbi Eliezer Zalmanov, co-director of Chabad of Northwest Indiana, has met Pence several times over the years at pro-Israel events when the latter served as congressman.

“He strongly supported Israel’s right to defend itself,” Zalmanov told COLlive.com about Pence’s commitment to Israel and the Jewish community. “That was always his ‘thing’ in Congress.”

Zalmanov didn’t mention whether he would be voting for the Trump-Pence ticket, as the Chabad-Lubavitch movement steers clear of political endorsements as a matter of policy.

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