Former Vice President Mike Pence Speaks at UNC-Chapel Hill: His Views on Protesters, the Presidential Race, and Proactive Listening

Former Vice President Mike Pence speaking at UNC Chapel Hill in the Great Hall of the Franklin Porter Graham Student Union (Source: The News and Observer) 

On Wednesday, April 26, UNC Chapel Hill was added to a list of stops made by former Vice President Mike Pence to speak to college students around the nation. Pence spoke before around 500 people in the Franklin Porter Graham Student Union’s Great Hall and was greeted by a flurry of applause before he began his speech, titled “Saving America from the Woke Left.”  Pence began by introducing himself to the crowd as “a Christian, conservative, and Republican… in that order.” He then went on to praise the UNC College Republicans and the Young America’s Foundation for hosting him in Chapel Hill and boasted his hope in the new “freedom generation” that would restore the Republican party to that of Reagan and Lincoln. 

After these brief introductory remarks, Mr. Pence talked about his own journey in politics. He described himself as starting out as a Democrat. The former Vice President then talked about a Christian spiritual awakening when he accepted Jesus Christ as his savior in college, which was met by loud cheers from the crowd. Pence then described combining his faith and an in-depth study of the U.S. Constitution to transition to conservative politics. This conservative outlook was strengthened by a presidential run from Ronald Reagan when Pence decided to “join the Reagan Republican revolution and never look back.” This led him to become a Republican radio personality, somewhat of a “Rush Limbaugh on decaf.” Pence then officially entered politics as a U.S. House Representative for a district in his home state of Indiana. He was elected Governor of Indiana in 2012, which granted him the political capital to be selected for the Trump 2016 ticket. 

Mr. Pence then began dissecting the current political climate and offering his own opinion of what the “woke left” was doing to the United States. He blamed the Biden-Harris administration for many of the problems facing America, specifically immigration, inflation, gas prices, dependencies on some of the most dangerous parts of the world, and skyrocketing crime rates. Mr. Pence touched on a variety of these topics, many of which have become popular conservative talking points in the recent past. He began by asserting that “patriotic education was being replaced by indoctrination” and that “CRT [critical race theory] is nothing more than state-sanctioned racism and should be banned from every classroom in every public school.” Jumping to another popular conservative issue, Pence claimed the left was trying to ruin women’s sports and that “participation in sports should be determined by one’s gender at birth as a matter of fairness.” Mr. Pence was continually interrupted by enthusiastic applause in agreement with his thoughts and ended with a line of encouragement for the audience that they “must resist the politics of personality and the lure of populism.” 

There was then a question-and-answer portion of his speech open to any individuals in the audience. One of the most notable questions from the session asked Mr. Pence what he thought of Donald Trump running for President in 2024 and how Republicans should approach uniting their base. Mr. Pence reacted with a surprised facial expression that brought laughter from the audience and then asserted that his former running mate had every right to seek office again. However, he did claim that “there will probably be someone I would be willing to support more” but that he would “let the Republican voters sort that out in the primaries.” Another interesting question, posed by a student who claimed he had traveled from Duke University, was about the group of UNC professors who signed an open letter against teaching a new state-mandated university class about America’s founding documents, claiming it was an infringement on the university’s academic freedom. Mr. Pence denounced the professors who signed the letters but praised the UNC Board of Trustees for not allowing the campus to stifle freedom of speech. He also praised Representative Amy Galey (Republican, NC Senate District 25) and Speaker of the House Tim Moore (Republican, NC House District 111), who were both in attendance, for spearheading the legislation requiring the class at public state universities. 

While Mr. Pence, his ideas, and his discourse with the audience were greatly supported and received within the Great Hall, a few hundred feet across from the Student Union a large protest was attended by hundreds of UNC students and members of the local community. The protest was led and organized by the UNC Young Democrats. There were 16 other clubs that endorsed the protest and served as partners, including similar coalitions of Democratic students from close neighbors Duke University and North Carolina State University. The protest had a host of speakers, who all spoke about how many of the policies Mike Pence supports are hateful and dangerous for the future of America. Signs held by protestors of all ages alluded to Republican views of things like drag queens, abortion, gun control, and immigration needing to change and not be tolerated by the “woke left,” a name the protestors came to embrace. The protest was also attended by North Carolina Democratic Chair Anderson Clayton, who served as the first speaker of the protest and encouraged attendees to show Mike Pence his record of hatefulness would not be tolerated on UNC’s campus. 

When the press asked Mr. Pence what he thought of the protesters, he replied, “Well, that's what freedom looks like, isn’t it?” He then went on to say that he “hopes by my presence here, maybe some [protesters] will come in, listen, and give a willing ear to argue about what’s made this country exceptional.” Throughout his speech, Mr. Pence seemed to maintain these ideals by emphasizing his view that the American people are not as divided as many may think and politicians should follow their constituents’ lead. Pence asserted that even though Washington D.C. has become a place where politicians argue over basic ideals, “if you went around 15 miles outside of Washington D.C., people get along pretty well.” To fix the division in the Capitol, he recommended both sides start proactively listening to each other and be willing to compromise in the name of restoring America’s strength and valor.  While the former Vice President proposed unity and open ears of both parties, whether he or his party will follow those recommendations is still yet to be determined.