This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Donald Trump has postponed an event in which he was expected to unveil Mike Pence as his vice-presidential candidate after the tragedy in Nice, France, in which more than 60 people were killed.

A Republican source had told the Guardian that the Republican frontrunner had chosen Pence, the governor of Indiana, to be his running mate.

Pence would represent a safe choice who would solidify the Republican base and is popular with social conservatives.

In order to choose Pence, Trump had to make a decision by noon on Friday, the deadline for the Indiana governor to drop his bid for re-election. Indiana law prevents a candidate for seeking election to multiple offices.

Trump had announced that he will officially unveil his vice-presidential choice at 11am on Friday in New York but tweeted Thursday night: “in light of the horrible attack in Nice, France, I have postponed tomorrow’s news conference concerning my vice presidential announcement.”

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to requests for comment as to when the announcement would be rescheduled.

Donald Trump to pick Mike Pence as running mate – politics live Read more

Trump’s campaign chair, Paul Manafort, insisted the decision had not yet been made on Thursday. Later, Trump’s oldest son Donald Trump Jr said the same to NBC News.

But a Republican source told the Guardian that the choice will be Pence.

Multiple other media outlets, including the Indy Star in Pence’s home state, also confirmed the selection.

The decision seems to represent an attempt to unite the Republican party and bring political experience to the businessman’s campaign.

Trump has spent much of the last week in Indiana, grounded by an aircraft malfunction to his private jet, and whiled away the days by holding de facto auditions with three contenders: Pence, New Jersey governor Chris Christie and former House speaker Newt Gingrich.

The three who spoke with Trump in the last week gave speeches that doubled as dress rehearsals for the campaign trail, and Pence also met with Trump’s adult children Ivanka, Eric and Donald Jr, who have assumed leading roles in their father’s campaign.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Trump has spent much of the last week, holding de facto auditions with three contenders: Mike Pence, New Jersey governor Chris Christie and former House speaker Newt Gingrich. Photograph: Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images

Pence would bring several qualities to the Trump campaign that Republicans have found lacking, not least of which experience in government. The 57-year-old spent 12 years in Congress, including two years in a leadership role with the House Republican Conference. He was elected governor of Indiana in 2012, and gained a degree of national notoriety thanks to a controversial Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which he signed into law and then wanted revised, after many argued it would allow discrimination against LGBT people.

Mike Pence: potential Trump VP pick could be asset despite clashing views Read more

A Trump-Pence ticket could send a message to Republican dissenters who feel they cannot support a candidate who has proven inconsistent on guns, abortion, LGBT rights and other social conservative issues. Just before the Indiana primary election, the staunchly conservative governor endorsed Ted Cruz, Trump’s leading opponent and a far-right senator from Texas.

Pence does not come without baggage to a general election, however, where tens of millions more people vote than in the primaries. He is not very popular in his home state, nor well known outside it, and though his conservative bona fides will help unite the party they may push away important swing voters, particularly suburban women.

The governor is also a far more conventional Republican than Trump in many regards, and has publicly disagreed with the presumptive nominee on several occasions. He has supported free-trade agreements such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is backed by Barack Obama and which Trump has called a “rape” of the US.

Without naming Trump, Pence has also attacked the businessman’s various calls to ban Muslims, or people from largely Muslim nations, from entering the US. “Calls to ban Muslims from entering the US are offensive and unconstitutional,” he tweeted in December.

Despite this, Pence was one of several governors who tried in vain to block Syrian refugees from settling in Indiana.

Pence has also voted to restrict Medicare rules, which Trump opposes, and in favor of the war in Iraq, which Trump has renounced in the years after he first supported it.

As reports of Pence’s announcement trickled in, Republicans on Capitol Hill were cautiously optimistic about the news.

Tennessee senator Bob Corker, who was regarded as a top VP pick for Trump before taking himself out of the running last week, praised Pence’s experience in public office.

“He’s certainly, as were the other finalists, a great choice,” Corker said.

“He has the executive skills, he also has the legislative [experience], so I’m happy for him and happy for the ticket.”

Arizona senator Jeff Flake said he was pleased with the choice, while adding his hope that Pence will “be a good influence” on Trump.

“I think it’s the best thing Donald Trump has done so far,” said Flake, who has yet to endorse Trump.

“I hope that Mike Pence can help change a few of Donald Trump’s positions, particularly as it relates to his statements about Hispanics.”

But Flake, who had a heated exchange with the presumptive nominee during a closed-door meeting last week, said Pence’s presence on the ticket was not enough on its own for Trump to earn his support.

“I’ll see where Donald Trump goes from here,” he said.

Reacting to the news on Thursday, the White House spokesman, Josh Earnest, told reporters he was unclear about the extent to which Barack Obama had interacted with Pence. But he offered what in Republican circles would be viewed as backhanded praise by highlighting Pence’s work to implement a key provision of the president’s healthcare law.

“Governor Pence did do some important work with the administration to expand Medicaid in his state,” Earnest said. “That’s something that President Obama’s been encouraging Democratic and Republican governors across the country to do.”

The majority of Republican governors in the US have rejected the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare. But Pence negotiated with the Obama administration on the issue, ultimately winning approval last year to adopt the program with some conservative tweaks to the requirements under the healthcare law.

Earnest was nonetheless critical of the religious freedom law signed by Pence, recalling Obama as having had “a pretty strong and negative reaction” to state-level efforts that would strip individuals of their rights.

“If Governor Pence is chosen, these are the kinds of questions he’s going to have to answer under the national spotlight,” Earnest said.

“The records of the candidates and their running mates should be scrutinized by the media, not just in terms of what they’re promising to do but also in terms of what they’ve done in the past.”

The delayed vice-presidential announcement marks the third time that the presumptive Republican nominee has rescheduled a campaign event around a mass casualty.

In June, Trump rewrote a planned speech about Bill and Hillary Clinton in the aftermath of the attack in Orlando, and instead focused on homeland security in a speech in Manchester, New Hampshire. In that speech, Trump expanded his call for a ban on Muslims entering the US.

More recently, after the mass shooting in Dallas that killed five law enforcement officers who were targeted by a sniper, Trump cancelled a campaign event in Miami.

Despite multiple outlets, including the Guardian, confirming that Trump has picked Pence to be his vice-president, he was still publicly indecisive Thursday night. In an interview, the presumptive GOP nominee told Fox News that he hadn’t made his “final final” decision and was still considering former House speaker Newt Gingrich as well.