Pence: 'Really Conservative and Mostly Unknown'

Donald Trump made it official Friday: Indiana Gov. Mike Pence will be his running mate when he attempts to stop another Clinton from sitting in the White House this November. Here's what you need to know about the vice presidential candidate:

• NBC News explains some of the key disagreements between Trump and Pence, including Pence calling plans to ban Muslims from the US "offensive," his recent reluctance to support Trump's border wall, and him saying Trump's attacks on a judge over his "Mexican heritage" were "inappropriate."
• As governor, Pence signed an anti-abortion bill that "would have basically forced women to seek funerary services for a fetus" following abortions or even miscarriages, Vox reports. The law, which was blocked by a federal judge, called for women to bury or cremate any and all fetal tissue.
• The Washington Post looks into one of the most controversial moments of Pence's political career—a religious freedom bill he signed in 2015 allowing businesses to refuse service to gay people. Before he modified it, the measure nearly resulted in the NCAA leaving Indiana and taking the Final Four with it.
• Pence is "really conservative and mostly unknown," FiveThirtyEight concludes. And many of those who do know of him have an unfavorable view of him, as he's relatively unpopular compared to vice presidential picks dating back to 1976.
• The New York Times has a helpful list of Pence's positions on the issues, including his opposition to gay rights, gun control, and amnesty for illegal immigrants and his support for increased military spending.
• SE Cupp writes for CNN that Pence, of whom she was once a big fan, agreeing to be Trump's running mate will wreck his political future. He will either “wither in irrelevance” under an “unpredictable, egomaniacal political neophyte” or he, along with Trump, “will crash in spectacular fashion” while losing the election.
• An editorial at the New York Post calls Pence a great pick for Trump. “Skeptics believe Trump has still to prove himself as worthy of being president. With Pence as his vice-presidential pick, he has proved himself yet again.”
• Finally, the Week just tries to make sense of the whole thing, arguing that Pence doesn't really help Trump much and is likely to "excite more hatred from the left than affection from the right.”

(More Mike Pence stories.)