Cleveland (CNN) Mike Pence made an impassioned effort to unite Republicans around Donald Trump, billing him as a latter day Ronald Reagan on a raucous night at the party's Cleveland convention.

The GOP vice presidential nominee stepped up in an electric atmosphere in the Quicken Loans Arena shortly after Texas Sen. Ted Cruz exacerbated the party's divides by refusing to publicly endorse Trump in his own speech.

Donald Trump stands with Republican vice presidential candidate Mike Pence and acknowledge the crowd on the third day of the Republican National Convention on July 20, 2016 in Cleveland, Ohio.

"You have nominated a man for president who never quits, who never backs down, a fighter, a winner. Until now, he has had to do it all by himself against all odds -- but this week, with this united party, he has got back up," Pence roared above the cheering crowd. "Let's resolve here and now that Hillary Clinton will never become the president of the United States of America."

The Indiana governor, who has close ties to the establishment of the Republican Party and credibility with the conservative movement, was picked by Trump specifically to bring the party together after a fractious primary process. But his task became even more challenging after Cruz's explosive speech, in which he implicitly suggested that Trump could not be trusted to protect the Constitution.

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