--- title: Republican Convention: Newt Gingrich Pushed for Mike Pence description: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Monday that he convinced GOP presumptive nominee to pick Indiana Gov. Mike Pence. canonical: https://time.com/4411514/republican-convention-newt-gingrich-mike-pence/ author: Jay Newton-Small article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-18T21:04:16.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T05:58:29.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Gingrich Says He Encouraged Trump to Pick Pence og:description: "I thought that Pence was the right choice." og:url: https://time.com/4411514/republican-convention-newt-gingrich-mike-pence/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30099d3ccdcafe2a/69889c68cd1bba53a6701858/gettyimages-577083088.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich walks outside the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2016 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Gingrich Says He Encouraged Trump to Pick Pence twitter:description: "I thought that Pence was the right choice." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30099d3ccdcafe2a/69889c68cd1bba53a6701858/gettyimages-577083088.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Newt Gingrich Says He Encouraged Donald Trump to Pick Mike Pence  by [Jay Newton-Small / Cleveland](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small / Cleveland Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:58 AM UTCPublished: Jul 18, 2016 9:04 PM UTC  Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich walks outside the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2016 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich walks outside the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2016 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.Brett Carlsen—2016 Brett Carlsen  by [Jay Newton-Small / Cleveland](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small / Cleveland Updated: Dec 13, 2023 5:58 AM UTCPublished: Jul 18, 2016 9:04 PM UTC Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said on Monday that he encouraged GOP presumptive nominee to [pick Indiana Gov. Mike Pence as his running mate](http://time.com/4409330/donald-trump-mike-pence-vice-president-2/) over Gingrich himself. “We talked it out for 2.5 hours and I thought that Pence was the right choice given where we are and what needs to get accomplished,” Gingrich told TIME at the Westin Hotel in Cleveland, where Trump and his entourage are staying during the convention. Gingrich said he was far from disappointed and believed that Trump made a decision that will help unite the party. His remarks came minutes before [a divisive fight on the convention floor](http://time.com/4411116/republican-convention-never-trump-floor-protest) a few blocks away where #NeverTrump Republicans tried to force a vote to change the rules and unbind the delegates. “People who are bad losers and who want the right to slug it out that’s their right it’s a free country,” Gingrich mused, while predicting correctly that the move would fail. “Donald Trump is a unique character in his own right. He got more votes than any Republican in history; he carried 37 state primaries. Normally, that’s called winning.” Gingrich called the party “semi-united.” “The party will be united by September. Hillary will do a lot to unite us,” he said. “Just watching Hillary, watching what she stands for, she gradually drives people back home.” Gingrich predicted that Republicans will also realize what’s at stake in the election. “It’s important on every level. It’s important to national security. It’s important to dealing with the problems to the inner city, where the president has failed so totally. It’s important in job creation where 25 million Americans have dropped out of the middle class,” he said. “It’s important in terms of the Supreme Court on whether we have a radical court or a conservative court, so it’s a very very important election.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4411514/republican-convention-newt-gingrich-mike-pence/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4411514/republican-convention-newt-gingrich-mike-pence/"},"headline":"Newt Gingrich Says He Encouraged Donald Trump to Pick Mike Pence","datePublished":"2016-07-18T21:04:16.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T05:58:29.000Z","description":"'I thought that Pence was the right choice'","url":"https://time.com/4411514/republican-convention-newt-gingrich-mike-pence/","keywords":["Republican National Convention","Donald Trump","newt gingrich","Mike Pence","veepstakes"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30099d3ccdcafe2a/69889c68cd1bba53a6701858/gettyimages-577083088.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jay Newton-Small / Cleveland"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt30099d3ccdcafe2a/69889c68cd1bba53a6701858/gettyimages-577083088.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich walks outside the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2016 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.","caption":"Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich walks outside the Republican National Convention on July 18, 2016 at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.","creditText":"Brett Carlsen—2016 Brett Carlsen","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/republican-national-convention/","name":"Republican National Convention"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4411514/republican-convention-newt-gingrich-mike-pence/","name":"Newt Gingrich Says He Encouraged Donald Trump to Pick Mike Pence"}}]}] ```