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Tim Kaine and Mike Pence.
Tim Kaine and Mike Pence. Composite: Getty Images & Rex Features
Tim Kaine and Mike Pence. Composite: Getty Images & Rex Features

Tim Kaine v Mike Pence: what to know about the vice-presidential candidates

This article is more than 7 years old

Before they square off in their only vice-presidential debate, get to know the men who could be a heartbeat away from the presidency

Tim Kaine, 58, Democrat

Born: Timothy Michael Kaine in Saint Paul, Minnesota, on 26 February 1958. Grew up working in his father’s ironworking shop in Kansas City, Missouri. Educated at the University of Missouri and Harvard law school.

Family: Married to Anne Holton, currently Virginia secretary of education. Three grown children: Nat, Woody and Annella.

Career: Lawyer for 17 years who focused on housing rights, governor of Virginia from 2006 to 2010, Democratic National Committee chairperson from 2009 to 2011, and US senator for Virginia from 2013 to the present.

Religion: Catholic. Has attended the same church for more than three decades. Personally against abortion but consistently voted in favour of abortion rights. Morally opposed to the death penalty but signed off on 11 executions during his four years as governor of Virginia. Opposed same-sex marriage in his 2005 gubernatorial run but later supported it. “How many of us are in the church and are deeply serious about our faith and agree with 100% of church doctrine?” Kaine asked the National Catholic Reporter in August. “I would argue very few Catholics are in that position. We’re all working out our salvation with fear and trembling.”

Tim Kaine. Photograph: Nicholas Kamm/AFP/Getty Images

Favourite theme: The transformative year he spent as a missionary with the Jesuits in Honduras from 1980 to 1981.

Breakthrough moment: His Democratic response to George W Bush’s State of the Union address in 2006.

Claims to fame: The first US senator to deliver a speech from the Senate floor in Spanish and one of only 30 people in history to have served as a mayor, governor and US senator.

Parting company with Clinton: Supports the Hyde amendment, which bans federal money from covering abortions; Clinton would push for its repeal if elected.

Weaknesses: Lacking charisma. Past support for free trade makes him a hard sell to supporters of Clinton’s defeated primary rival, Senator Bernie Sanders.

Political heroes: Harry Truman and Abraham Lincoln.

Hobbies: Reading, being outdoors, sports trivia, playing harmonica with bluegrass bands throughout Virginia, listening to the Who and Bruce Springsteen.

Mike Pence, 57, Republican

Born: Michael Richard Pence in Columbus, Indiana, on 7 June 1959. His father, a Korean war veteran, ran gas stations. “I was raised in a small town in southern Indiana, in a big family with a cornfield in the back yard.” Educated at Hanover College in Indiana and Indiana University school of law.

Family: Married to Karen Pence, a schoolteacher. Three grown children: Michael, Charlotte and Audrey.

Career: Talk radio host, self-described as “Rush Limbaugh on decaf”. Six terms in Congress from 2000 to 2012. Early advocate of the Tea Party movement. Elected governor of Indiana in 2012.

Religion: Evangelical Christian. Opposed Planned Parenthood funding while in Congress. As governor, signed one of the strictest abortion laws in the country and a bill that extended legal protections to business owners who did not want to participate in same-sex weddings for religious reasons; following an outcry, he signed an amendment. Last week, recalling his conversion to evangelical Christianity, he said he was “overwhelmed with gratitude” that “Jesus had died for all the sins of the world, [and] somewhere in there he died for me”.

Mike Pence. Photograph: Scott Bauer/AP

Favourite theme: “I’m a Christian, a conservative and a Republican – in that order” and “I’m a conservative, but I’m not angry about it.”

Breakthrough moment: Elected as the Republican Conference chairman, the third-highest-ranking Republican leadership position, in 2009.

Claim to fame: The first Republican from Indiana to run for vice-president since Dan Quayle, who had an unsuccessful debate in 1988 but took office under George HW Bush.

Parting company with Trump: He has backed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, tweeted that “Calls to ban Muslims from entering the US are offensive and unconstitutional” and said “there’s no question” human activity affects both the climate and the environment.

Weaknesses: Lacking charisma. Hardened conservative positions on issues such as abortion and gay rights could help to mobilise liberals.

Political heroes: John F Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. He still has a box of Kennedy memorabilia and was a Democrat as a teen, voting for Jimmy Carter rather than Ronald Reagan in 1980.

Hobbies: Horse riding. He said: “I think Ronald Reagan said the outside of a horse is good for the inside of a man, and it’s certainly good for me.” Favourite book: A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin. Favourite movie: Hoosiers.

More on this story

More on this story

  • Trump on trial: Kaine calls on Pence to defend running mate in debate

  • VP debate fact-check: Mike Pence and Tim Kaine's claims reviewed

  • The vice-presidential debate: what we learned

  • 'It wasn’t a pretty night for Tim Kaine': reaction to the vice-presidential debate

  • Don't be fooled by the presentation: Mike Pence is a rightwing zealot

  • Kaine and Pence: two Catholic-inspired visions with little else in common

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