Greg Pence on Tuesday won the Republican primary for Indiana’s 6th Congressional District ― a seat his younger brother, Vice President Mike Pence, held for almost a decade, according to The Associated Press.
Greg Pence, a former Marine and the owner of two antique malls, ran a campaign that echoed his brother’s conservative values. He described himself as a “pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, and faith-driven conservative” on his campaign website.
The businessman’s campaign was in many ways reminiscent of the agenda the Trump administration has pursued.
“I love my brother Michael and there is no daylight on issues between him and me,” Greg Pence said in a recent email to The Indianapolis Star.
Pence, a Catholic, has voiced his support of “conservative values” while courting the evangelicals who have remained faithful to his brother.
“I think what we have seen in this country ― knocking other people’s values, how they practice, how they want to serve God ― I’ve always had a real problem with that,” Pence said in one of his campaign videos.
Pence, who has no previous political experience, beat out four other Republican candidates in the primary race. He raised nearly $1.2 million in campaign funds, according to Federal Election Commission records, dwarfing his competitors.
A small portion of that money includes contributions from the Great America Committee, a political action committee created by the vice president to “advance President [Donald] Trump’s agenda day in and day out.
That agenda includes issues such as “securing our borders,” “repealing and replacing Obamacare” and “restoring the American economy.”
Pence’s campaign drew on his business and military background. In an April Facebook post, he expressed his support for building a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to “prevent the flow of illegal drugs, illegal immigrants.”
Pence has advocated for tax cuts, Obamacare repeal and less federal control over Second Amendment rights. The businessman called Obamacare, formally known as the Affordable Care Act, an “attack on the middle class.”
“Obamacare is no good. It’s shot, it’s broke, it’s not working,” Pence said in another campaign video. “[The] Trump-Pence administration tried to do something ― Congress didn’t help them. I want to help them.”
Indiana’s 6th District has voted steadily Republican since 1983, and Mike Pence kept the seat for nearly 10 years before becoming the state’s governor in 2012.