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Mike Pence's Older Brother Just Won GOP Primary In Indiana Congressional Race

The VP tweeted that Greg Pence "is making Hoosiers & the Pence family proud."

Greg Pence, Vice President Mike Pence's older brother, won the Republican primary for Indiana's 6th Congressional District last night, despite having no prior political experience. The elder Pence is aiming to replace Reprepresenttive Luke Messer, who stepped down to run for Senate, in the seat held by the VP prior to becoming governor.

Questions remain as to how Greg, a businessman and former Marine, would legislate as he has no record to assess and has avoided most questions about his policy stances.

Mike Pence's time in Congress was marked by taking strong stands on conservative social issues, including on LGBT rights. He voted against marriage equality on more than one occasion and signed a "religious freedom" law that allowed businesses to discriminate, later amended to protect LGBT people following a backlash.

"I love my brother Michael and there is no daylight on issues between him and me," he told the Indy Star.

Greg had a significant financial advantage over his four Republican primary challengers, raising nearly $1.2 million. The closest rival was Jonathan Lamb, who raised just shy of $850,000. (The other two candidates failed to raise even $100,000.) Pence also enjoyed name recognition, thanks to his brother's high profile. The vice president actually donated $5,400 to his brother's campaign through his PAC, the Great America Committee, and headlined a fundraising event.

The president's son, Donald Trump, Jr., also headlined a fundraiser and tweeted out his support.

Greg Pence played up his support for the Trump Administration in a campaign video.

"Donald Trump cares more about the middle class than any president we've had in a long time and he needs help out there," he claims in a campaign video. "He needs more Marines to go out there and be in Congress and help his agenda get through Congress."

He also stresses his faith: Unlike Vice President Pence, who converted to evangelical Christianity, Greg is still a Catholic.

"If you’ve spent any time with Greg, Greg is not Mike. That’s what people know who actually live here,” another of his primary opponents, Stephen MacKenzie. told The Washington Post. “Mike is a man of faith—no apologies about being a Christian conservative. Greg is the exact opposite. He doesn’t share the same faith, same values.”

Both Lamb and MacKenzie have also criticized the older Pence's business record: He was the president of a chain of convenience stores forced to file for bankruptcy protection, was fined millions by the state for environmental damage, and was sued by a bank he served on the board of directors of for $3.8 million in debts he had personally guaranteed.

Pence is the odds-on favorite to win the general election in November, as the 6th district voted for Donald Trump two-to-one over Hillary Clinton in 2016.

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