On this date in both 2020, 2021, as well as 2022, “Fanatical Republican Extremist of the Day” profiled the U.S. House Representative from Indiana’s 6th Congressional District, Greg Pence, who yes, is the older brother of former Vice President Mike Pence, whom Greg called "Bubbles" in their youth. (Frankly, that’s the most humanizing thing I’ve ever heard about either Pence, who have all the charisma of jars of mayonnaise past their expiration.) Anyway, Mike Pence was the Congressman from Indiana’s 6th from 2003-2012, when he left Congress to become the abysmal Governor of Indiana, and Luke Messner took the baton for three terms… until 2018, when Messner made a failed run for U.S. Senate in Indiana, and Greg Pence stumbled out of his brother’s shadow to join the ranks of the obstructionist tools of the Republican Congressional Caucus.
Part of the reason Mike Pence became the more successful political story has to do with Greg’s record as a businessman, as he ran the family chain of Tobacco Road convenience stores in Indiana badly enough that they filed for bankruptcy, and ended up being fined $8.4 million because of environmental damage done by leaking underground storage tanks. Other than that, Greg Pence avoided reporters as if they were radioactive, did the bare minimum by being interviewed by a conservative radio talk show host where he could endorse Trump’s stupid idea for a border wall, and otherwise coast into Congress based on the family name.
Which somehow, was not the end of him having shady and outrageous business dealings… as the New York Times reported in 2019, since Greg Pence arrived in Washington, D.C., he frequently helped funnel money into the Trump Foundation, often by booking rooms at Trump’s DC hotel that he can pay for with campaign money. Whenever there’s been a Trump rally back in Indiana, he’s there to cheerlead (and his son is rumored to literally be doing that with chants at the rallies around the country). And whenever Donald Trump is in jeopardy in the House, like say, when the inquiry into Trump’s phone call with the President Ukraine was being investigated as a shakedown, he called it a “power grab”, or “bulls*** to the 4th degree”. (Watch the language, Greg, you might burn poor Bubbles’ virgin ears.)
Indiana’s 6th Congressional District has a +22 Republican lean, and yes, that’s a tie for the most conservative lean of any district in the state. Being boring, partisan, pathological liars is familial trait still meant he could win re-election with 69% of the vote, and go back to DC to do things like this:
- December 3rd, 2019: Greg Pence is one of 71 Republicans who votes against a resolution to disallow Russia from re-entering the G7 and makes it the G8 until it leaves Ukraine.
- December 18th, 2019: Rep. Pence ignores his Congressional duty to hold a president who has been proven to commit high crimes and misdemeanors accountable and votes against the impeachment of Donald Trump.
- December 10th, 2020: Pence signs his name to an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, begging them to overturn the results of the 2020 election. The same election that he won re-election in.
- January 6th, 2021: Greg Pence votes for the objection to the electoral college’s votes in the 2020 election, a failure to send any sort of message that he wasn’t intimidated or sympathetic to those who attacked the Capitol to attempt a violent coup.
- January 13th, 2021: Rep. Pence votes against the second impeachment of Donald Trump, because the Republican Party no longer feels like they should be accountable for anything, including failed coups that result in the deaths of police officers that puts his brother's life at risk.
- February 25th, 2021: Pence votes against HR 5, the latest version of the Equality Act, that would provide workplace protections for LGBTQ Americans.
- March 3rd, 2021: Rep. Pence votes against HR 1, a bill created to prevent the corruption of money in politics, and protect voter access to the ballot box.
- March 3rd, 2021: Greg Pence votes against the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act of 2021.
- March 10th, 2021: Pence votes against the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, because he feels people deserve to die in poverty during a pandemic.
- March 17th, 2021: Rep. Pence votes against the re-authorization of the Violence Against Women Act, likely because they feel the 2nd Amendment remaining absolute is more important than preventing people with a history of domestic abuse from owning a firearm (which statistics show, makes them more likely to use those firearms against women in their lives).
- May 19th, 2021: Greg Pence votes against HR 3233, the creation of a commission to investigate the Capitol Attack.
- March 31st, 2022: Pence votes against HR 6833, the Affordable Insulin Now Act, which would limit the cost that drug companies could list insulin at to $35 and make sure no diabetic was priced out of surviving their condition. Greg Pence would rather they be gouged by pharmaceutical giants and/or die.
- May 18th, 2022: Greg Pence is one of 192 Republicans who vote against HR 7790, to create supplemental funding for infant formula (while claiming to be pro- life).
- May 18th, 2022: Rep. Pence votes against HR 350, the Domestic Violence Prevention Act, because these days, a plank of the Republican Party is ostensibly domestic terror.
- May 19th, 2022: Pence votes against HR 7688, a bill which would help prevent gas companies from gouging customers on prices.
- July 13th, 2022: Greg Pence votes against the Honoring Our PACT Act, to provide healthcare to veterans affected by toxic burn pits while serving in the War on Terror that leave them more susceptible to forms of cancer.
- July 15th, 2022: Greg Pence votes against House Amendment 262, which would require the FBI, Department of Homeland Security, and Secretary of Defense to publish a report on the infiltration of American law enforcement by Neo-Nazis and white supremacists, offer measures to be taken to remove them from their ranks, and prevent further infiltration by others.
- July 19th, 2022: Rep. Pence votes against the “Respect for Marriage Act”, which would codify same sex marriage into law nationally.
- July 21st, 2022: Pence is one of 195 Republicans who vote against the Right to Contraception Act, which codified the right of Americans to have access to birth control.
- December 1st, 2022: Rep. Pence is one of 90 Republicans who vote against HR 6878, meaning he is perfectly fine with pregnant women in prison being placed in solitary confinement while claiming to be “pro-life”.
- December 6th, 2022: Pence, embracing the GOP’s white nationalist, anti-immigrant sentiment votes against HR 7946, which was meant to honor the promise to grant citizenship to immigrants who served in the United States Armed Forces.
- December 21st, 2022: Greg doesn’t even show up to vote for the Respect for Child Survivors Act, a bill created to aid the survivors of child abuse, which shows you how much the GOP truly care about stopping “groomers”.
We’re going to reiterate how soulless Greg Pence is by repeating something in the above… he voted against certifying the results of the 2020 election after the Capitol Attack, and voted against an independent commission being formed to investigate that same attack, where an armed mob of Trump supporters attempted to storm the halls of Congress, execute several leaders among them, including HIS OWN BROTHER. He remained silent on supporting “Bubbles” until he was pressed about it in an interview with CNN’s Manu Raju, and was willing to add the Vice President cannot just overturn the results of a presidential election.
Truly a noble soul, waiting until it was politically safer to support furthering his own little brother’s life upon this planet.
And yet… Greg Pence won re-election with a staggering 67% of the vote in 2022. He's also had second thoughts about the importance of his brother, egging him on to run for president in 2024. Based on how Bubbles is polling among Republicans though, it seems like a long shot.
One Year Ago, July 9th, 2022: Greg Pence (IN)… 2022 Update
Two Years Ago, July 9th, 2021: Greg Pence (IN)… 2021 Update
Three Year Ago, July 9th, 2020: Greg Pence (IN)… Original Profile
Four Years Ago, July 9th, 2019: Neal Tapio (SD)
Five Years Ago, July 9th, 2018: Luther Strange (AL)
Six Years Ago, July 9th, 2017: Mick Mulvaney (SC)… 2017 Update
Seven Years Ago, July 9th, 2016: Mick Mulvaney (SC)… Original Profile
Eight Years Ago, July 9th, 2015: Randy Terrill (OK)