CHICAGO — Tuesday night's vice presidential debate included a couple of references to Chicago: GOP nominee Mike Pence referenced an uncle who was a police officer here and Democrat Tim Kaine cited Hillary Clinton's local roots.
Pence, the Indiana governor, was born in Indiana to parents who moved to the Hoosier state from Chicago. He said he loved visiting his uncle in Chicago and seeing him in his police uniform with his "sidearm at his side."
Police officers "are the best of us," Pence said.
While praising community policing, Pence said Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton demeaned law enforcement by claiming some officers "suffer from implicit bias."
Said Pence:
"My uncle was a cop, career cop on the beat in Downtown Chicago. He was my hero when I grew up. My three brothers and I would marvel at my uncle when he would come out in his uniform, sidearm at his side. Police officers are the best of us, and men and women, white, African-American, Asian, Latino, Hispanic — they put their lives on the line every single day."
He said he agreed with Kaine on community policing, saying it "is a great idea. It has worked in the Hoosier state. We fully support that."
Pence talks about his uncle below:
His uncle was mentioned in a Sept. 22 report on an appearance by the vice presidential candidate in Colorado Springs, Colo. At that event Pence said he and Donald Trump believe police “are not a force for racism in America,” but “a force for good,” deserving support and respect.
Pence's grandfather, whom Pence is named after, was a bus driver in the city after immigrating here from Ireland in the 1920s. Another grandfather worked in Chicago's Stockyards.
In a 2014 address in Chicago, according to the Tribune, Pence said, "I really owe a debt of gratitude to Chicago that springs from my own personal history."
"When my grandfather got off a boat on Ellis Island in about 1923, he caught a train to Chicago, and he drove a bus in this city for about 40 years. My mom and dad both grew up on the South Side of Chicago, down around 55th and Honore. In fact, we have family that goes to school and lives and works in this community here today," he said in a City Club speech.
“It’s very personal when I’m in this city. I feel very at home. My story is I was raised by two big city kids in a really small town in southern Indiana,” said Pence, who grew up in Columbus, Ind.
He recalled during holidays how “the Pence family would find themselves in the back of a station wagon making the long trip up what was then Highway 31 to the South Side of Chicago to hearth and home and family and friends."
Meanwhile Kaine, a U.S. senator from Virginia., mentioned Clinton's Chicago connections: "Hillary Clinton has that passion. From a time as a kid in a Methodist youth group in the suburbs of Chicago, she has been focused on serving others with a special focus on empowering families and kids."
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