Here's what Mike Pence said in Cincinnati

Jun 26, 2023

As former Vice President Mike Pence ponders a presidential run, he visited Cincinnati to rally more than 400 supporters of a Christian policy group and urge them to continue fighting against abortion.

"It's going to take Christian virtue in this fight," Pence said. "I want you to prepare your minds for action. This is not just about Ohio. The truth of the matter is, the radical left is coming to Ohio because they would like to turn back what the people of Ohio have chosen to do."

Pence and his aides have said they will make a decision by late June on whether he will join the growing list of Republican presidential candidates for 2024.

"We're getting a lot of encouragement," Pence told reporters after the event, saying he didn't plan on announcing anything during this trip to Ohio.

Ostensibly, Pence and the crowd of about 400 were assembled at a gala in the Duke Energy Convention Center to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of the Center for Christian Virtue. It's an organization started in Cincinnati known for leading sexual morality fights against Hustler magazine founder Larry Flynt and other figures and one that has risen in prominence during the recent culture wars.

The Center for Christian Virtue, a Columbus-based group, has been one of the state's prominent opponents of abortion and has supported providing more tax money to private schools.

About two dozen protesters, most from local socialist organizations, stood outside the convention center to oppose Pence's appearance. They waved rainbow flags and signs that read "No Pence," "End Trans Genocide," "Free & Legal Abortion for All," and "Pray the Gay To Stay." As Pence spoke with gala attendees in the convention center lobby before his speech, the protesters a few feet away outside chanted "(Expletive) Mike Pence" and "Sexist, Racist, Anti-Gay, Christian virtues go away."

"We're here to say no to Mike Pence," said Franklin Ridgway, vice chair of the Cincinnati Socialists. "We're here to say that if you stand against the rights of gay men and women, if you stand against the rights of trans people, if you stand against the rights of labor, immigrants, Muslims, then you stand against the rights of human beings."

Pence used his 20-minute speech to wax poetic on religion, take a victory lap over the United States Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v. Wade and the constitutional protections on abortion, and urge Christians and conservatives to fight efforts to expand abortion in Ohio and elsewhere.

A clock on the stage next to Pence provided a countdown to the November election.

"Ohio has become a battleground in the cause of life," Pence said.

Pence focused a large portion of his speech on the petition by abortion rights supporters to put an amendment on the November ballot protecting abortion access in Ohio. Pence repeated claims about the amendment that many amendment supporters and legal experts have said are not true. Pence claimed the amendment would allow sex change operations for minors without consent and end parental consent and notification of abortions for minors.

The language does not expressly mention "parental consent" or medical treatments for transgender minors. Legal experts interviewed by the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau have said it is highly unlikely the amendment would outlaw parental consent.

Pence praised Gov. Mike DeWine and the heartbeat bill he signed into law that made abortion illegal in Ohio once a fetal heartbeat is detected, usually around six weeks. A Hamilton County judge blocked that law, temporarily restoring access to abortion up to 22 weeks into pregnancy. Currently, abortion in Ohio is banned after 22 weeks.

"How great is Gov. Mike DeWine?" Pence said to a smattering of applause. DeWine had angered some conservatives with mask mandates and COVID restrictions during the pandemic. "I was for Mike DeWine before it was cool."

DeWine wasn't in attendance. But Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who is exploring a run for Senate against Sen. Sherrod Brown, and Attorney General Dave Yost were.

Pence didn't have much to say about the big news of the day, a federal jury finding former President Donald Trump liable in a civil case for sexual abuse and defamation.

"I don't know anything about that case, and I don't think it would be appropriate for me to comment on a judgment in a civil case," when asked about the case by The Enquirer at the press conference.

He said he doesn't expect the American public will care much about it either.

"I have to tell you, as I traveled around the country the last two years, all of the controversies that are surrounding the president are just not what people talk to me about," Pence said, saying he thinks the public in the next presidential election will care more about border security, inflation and foreign policy issues.

The Cincinnati region has become a popular destination for Republican presidential candidates and potential presidential candidates.

At the same time as Pence's speech, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was in the Cincinnati region for a fundraiser, her campaign confirmed, though they wouldn't disclose the location.

Another possible GOP presidential candidate, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, spoke April 13 to Republicans in West Chester Township just north of Cincinnati.