Mike Pence
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50 free Mike Pence trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
Mike Pence spent four years a heartbeat from the presidency, and then one January afternoon he became the man who would not do what his president asked. That decision made him a hero to some, a traitor to others, and one of the most argued-over figures in modern American politics. The road there is full of surprises. Before Washington he lost elections, hosted a talk radio show, led House conservatives and governed Indiana, picking up a few fights and a famously unusual family pet along the way. This quiz collects the best fun facts about Mike Pence, from his boyhood and college years to Congress, the governor's office, the vice presidency and his own run for the White House. It suits politics fans, history students and anyone who followed American elections between 2016 and 2024.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What landed on Mike Pence's head for about two minutes during his 2020 debate with Kamala Harris?
A fly
A fly settled on Pence's white hair and stayed put while he kept talking. It spawned internet memes and a popular Halloween costume.
Q 02Who got a young Mike Pence's vote in the 1980 presidential election, years before he became a conservative Republican?
Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter won his vote: Pence grew up a Democrat and volunteered for the party as a teenager. He credits Ronald Reagan with pulling him to the right during college.
Q 03What kind of animal was Marlon Bundo, the Mike Pence family pet that flew on Air Force Two?
A rabbit
A rabbit, Marlon Bundo was the first of his kind to travel on Air Force Two. He went on to feature in four children's books and had his own Instagram following.
Q 04As Indiana governor, Mike Pence did state business on a personal email account with which provider, later hacked?
AOL
AOL hosted the account, which hackers broke into in 2016 to send his contacts fake pleas for money. The story stung because Pence had attacked Hillary Clinton over her private email server.
Q 05Mike Pence told a reporter in 2002 that he would never do what alone with a woman other than his wife?
Eat dinner
He would not eat dinner alone with another woman, a practice long known as the Billy Graham rule after the evangelist who followed it. From 2017 it was also called the Mike Pence rule.
Q 06The cast of which Broadway musical addressed Vice President-elect Mike Pence from the stage after a 2016 performance?
Hamilton
Hamilton actor Brandon Victor Dixon read a statement the cast wrote with creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. Pence said he was not offended, though Donald Trump demanded an apology.
Q 07Which late-night show published a best-selling parody of a children's book about Mike Pence's pet Marlon Bundo?
Last Week Tonight
Last Week Tonight with John Oliver released its parody a day before the Pence family's book, and it went straight to number one on Amazon. Its proceeds went to The Trevor Project and AIDS United.
Q 08As a 1990s Indiana talk radio host, Mike Pence described himself as a decaf version of which broadcaster?
Rush Limbaugh
Rush Limbaugh was the model: Pence saw himself as just as conservative but far less bombastic. His own daily show was syndicated across Indiana from 1994.
Q 09Rupert Boneham, who ran against Mike Pence for Indiana governor as a Libertarian, found fame on which reality show?
Survivor
Survivor made Boneham a fan favorite, and viewers once voted him a million-dollar prize. In 2012 he took most of the votes that did not go to Pence or his Democratic rival.
Q 10Which relative of Mike Pence won his old Indiana congressional seat in 2018 and once acted as his decoy?
His brother
His brother Greg, the oldest of six Pence siblings, held the seat from 2019 to 2025. The two look so alike that Greg once drew reporters away from Mike during the 2016 running-mate search.
Q 11Which Democratic senator did Mike Pence face in the 2016 vice presidential debate at Longwood University?
Tim Kaine
Tim Kaine was Hillary Clinton's running mate, and a CNN poll gave Pence the win by 48 percent to 42. Wisconsin governor Scott Walker had played Kaine in Pence's rehearsals.
Q 12Mike Pence cast the first tie-breaking Senate vote ever to confirm a Cabinet member, for which 2017 nominee?
Betsy DeVos
Betsy DeVos became education secretary only after Pence broke a fifty-fifty tie. He went on to cast 13 tie-breaking votes, more than his four predecessors combined.
Q 13Which former vice president's example reportedly inspired Mike Pence to certify the 2020 election on January 6, 2021?
Al Gore
Q 21Which governor did Mike Pence replace as head of Donald Trump's presidential transition team in November 2016?
Chris Christie
Chris Christie had also been a finalist to be Trump's running mate, the job that went to Pence. Days after the election he lost the transition post to Pence as well.
Q 22Which Democrat drew criticism from his own side in 2019 for calling Mike Pence a decent guy?
Joe Biden
Joe Biden made the remark in a speech in Omaha, then walked it back after objections over Pence's record on LGBT issues. The two had spoken by phone before Pence took office in 2017.
Q 23Which phrase from the oath of office did Mike Pence choose as the title of his 2022 memoir?
So Help Me God
Al Gore had presided over the count of his own narrow defeat twenty years earlier, when Pence was a newly elected congressman. Pence in turn announced his own ticket's loss.
Q 14Players from which NFL team knelt during the anthem before Mike Pence walked out of a Colts home game in 2017?
San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco 49ers players knelt, and Pence left the stadium soon afterwards. CNN put the cost of his Air Force Two travel to attend the game at about $242,500.
Q 15Which Republican senator did Indiana governor Mike Pence endorse days before the state's 2016 presidential primary?
Ted Cruz
Ted Cruz got Pence's endorsement but lost the Indiana primary to Donald Trump. By mid-July Pence had joined the Trump ticket as his running mate.
Q 16Which Supreme Court justice swore in Mike Pence as vice president at the January 2017 inauguration?
Clarence Thomas
Clarence Thomas administered the oath, which made Pence the first vice president sworn in by an African-American justice.
Q 17In which Christian tradition was Mike Pence raised before he became an evangelical in college?
Catholic
Catholic by upbringing, Pence attended parochial school and later worked as a youth minister. He kept going to Mass after his conversion, which is where he met his wife.
Q 18Which famous hospital did Mike Pence tour in April 2020 without the face mask its own policy required?
Mayo Clinic
Mayo Clinic rules required masks, but Pence said he wanted to look staff in the eye. He wore one two days later at a ventilator plant, then admitted he should have worn one at the clinic.
Q 19Which country did Mike Pence accuse of predatory economics and election meddling in a 2018 Hudson Institute speech?
China
China was the target, and The New York Times likened the speech to the declaration of a new Cold War. Pence said Beijing wanted a different American president.
Q 20Which Republican elder reportedly told Mike Pence in early 2021 that he had no power to block the election result?
Dan Quayle
Dan Quayle, a fellow Hoosier and former vice president, urged Pence to follow the Senate rules and certify. The exchange became a centerpiece of the Woodward and Costa book Peril.
So Help Me God came out in November 2022 and recounts his break with Donald Trump over January 6. It was the first of two books he agreed to write for Simon & Schuster.
Q 24In which country is Doonbeg, where Mike Pence's ancestors lived and where he stayed at a Trump resort in 2019?
Ireland
Ireland was home to his mother's family, and Pence stayed in Doonbeg although his meetings were 180 miles away in Dublin. The limousine bill alone came to $599,000.
Q 25Which medal, earned by his father in the Korean War, does Mike Pence display in his office?
Bronze Star
The Bronze Star was awarded to Edward Pence in 1953. His son keeps it beside the commendation letter and a photograph from the presentation.
Q 26Mike Pence's father Edward ran a group of which kind of business in Columbus, Indiana?
Gas stations
Gas stations supported a family of six children. Edward Pence died in 1988, the year his son Mike first ran for Congress and lost.
Q 27What did surgeons implant in Mike Pence in April 2021, three months after he left office?
A pacemaker
A pacemaker was fitted to correct a slow heartbeat. Pence had been diagnosed in 2016 with a heart condition that caused no symptoms at the time.
Q 28At which small Indiana school did Mike Pence study history and later work as an admissions counselor?
Hanover College
Hanover College is where Pence led his fraternity chapter and where his politics began shifting to the right. He stayed on for two years after graduating to recruit new students.
Q 29Which country did Mike Pence visit in June 2023, the first Republican presidential candidate of that race to go?
Ukraine
Ukraine hosted Pence for a meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He said the country's military should get what it needed to defeat Russian aggression.
Q 30In which city did Mike Pence end his 2024 presidential campaign at a Republican Jewish Coalition meeting?
Las Vegas
Las Vegas heard the surprise announcement on October 28, 2023, less than five months after he entered the race. Pence told the crowd it had become clear this was not his time.