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1st LD: U.S. Republican Donald Trump picks Mike Pence as running mate

Xinhua, July 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

U.S. Presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Donald Trump announced on Friday he had chosen Indiana Governor Mike Pence as his running mate.

"I am pleased to announce that I have chosen Governor Mike Pence as my Vice Presidential running mate," wrote Trump on his Twitter account.

The pick of Pence as running mate came as Trump was scrambling to solidify the Republican base and win support from social conservatives.

Pence, 57, was a Republican lawmaker for 12 years and the third-highest-ranking member of the GOP in the House before becoming the governor of Indiana in 2013.

During his stint in Congress, he was assigned to the Foreign Affairs Committee, a credential which could make up for Trump's lack of foreign affairs experience in a competitive general election with former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as the standard-bearer of the Democratic Party.

Once calling himself as "a Christian, a conservative and a Republican, in that order," Pence is also a beloved social conservative among the devout evangelical conservatives within the party.

Therefore, Trump's pick of Pence would also help to quell concerns among social conservatives that the New York billionaire developer is too liberal on social issues. Enditem