Family is so important to Mike Pence that his wife and daughter were by his side the entire day of January 6, as insurrectionists sought to take his life at the U.S. Capitol.
“Not very many people know my wife, Karen, and (daughter) Charlotte were with me all day, all night long at the Capitol,” the former vice president said in a recent interview with BNG. “They had both come down to observe the proceedings that were taking place at the Congress. I was determined not to leave the Capitol, but I encouraged them to go on back to the vice president’s residence. I knew either way it was going to be a long night, and neither one of them would leave.”
Family is a theme of the new book coauthored by Mike Pence and Charlotte Pence. Titled Go Home for Dinner, the book builds on a common refrain Pence used as a young politician. When reporters asked him, “Where do you see yourself in five, 10 years?” he would reply: “Home for dinner.”
That legendary commitment to family faced a strenuous test on January 6, the Pences write in the new book.
“The last chapter of the book, which is titled ‘Stay,’ was written by Charlotte, because she along with her mother stayed the entire day with me. I just believe I did my duty based upon the Constitution of the United States,” Pence said.
Having family beside him on that fateful day was a grace from God, Pence said. “It was all God’s grace and family.”
While this year did not prove to be the right time for the former vice president to run for the presidency — he recently suspended his campaign — this was the right time to release the new book, he said.
“It was a privilege to run,” he explained. “It was a tough call to end the campaign, but we have peace about it. We know this was not our time.” The book’s release, however, felt like “perfect timing, which feels providential that a few weeks after one chapter of our life ends, we have an opportunity to sit down with people all across the country and talk about what really matters most.”
Charlotte Pence has enjoyed a front row seat to observe what matters most to her parents; and now as the mother of a baby, she found joy in writing alongside her dad.
“It was very special to write this as a soon-to-be mom,” she said. “My dad came to me with the idea of writing the book together with him when I was very pregnant, but we decided to just go for it, and my husband really encouraged me to do it. … I had to really live out the principles in the book as I was working on it.”
In addition to family, faith is a cornerstone of Pence’s public life.
“I accepted Jesus Christ in college; I got married a few years later after that,” he explained. “I heard a sermon in college, while the pastor was speaking about Abraham, and made the decision after hearing him speak on Genesis 18:19 that I would choose my family and be there for them, including having dinner with them regularly.
“What I took from that sermon 30 years ago, from that verse in Genesis 18:19 was a determination to say my calling in my life is to be the husband and father God’s called me to be and to claim the promise that God would fulfill whatever purpose he had for me,” he said. “I felt a real burden lifted off my shoulders, but from that point on, I sought to really put those principles into practice.”
Thus, his commitment to be home for dinner every night he could.
“We’re living in a very uncertain time in the life of the country,” he said. “People worry about what they can do, other than voting their values, to turn things around. If people take from the book just a sense that they can make a difference by going home for dinner, they can make a difference by putting their faith and their family as a priority. If you want to save America, save your family. Go home for dinner.
“I hope this isn’t the last word from me. I really do believe the vitality of the family and the faith in the American people has always and will always be the pathway for renewal for our country.”