The former vice president was speaking at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, at an event hosted by the Young America’s Foundation, a conservative youth organization. It attracted around 500 people, Des Moines Register reported, the majority students.
During a question-and-answer session after a speech by Pence, an audience member asked him who convinced him “to buck President Trump’s plan and certify the votes?”
His reply, “James Madison,” was met with applause.
Madison, the fourth President of the United States, has been hailed as the “Father of the Constitution” for his pivotal role in drafting the documents and ratifying them. He also drafted the first 10 U.S. amendments, the Bill of Rights.
Many of Trump’s supporters turned on Pence after he presided over the Senate’s approval of the 2020 Electoral College vote on January 6, the same day a mob of angry supporters of the then-president stormed the Capitol building.
Early that day, Pence released a statement saying: “It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.”
Shortly after, Trump publicly urged Pence to disregard the Constitution at a “Stop the Steal” rally held at the Ellipse near the White House. “So I hope Mike has the courage to do what he has to do,” he said.
Some of Trump’s supporters who stormed the Capitol later that day erected make-shift gallows and chanted “hang Mike Pence” as the mob stormed the halls of Congress in search of the vice president and other lawmakers.
Pence told the crowd that he stood by his decision to certify the election.
“I understand the disappointment in the election,” he said at the time. “You might remember I was on the ballot.
“But you’ve got to be willing to do your duty. And the time may come that some of you are in that position, or one like it. And I just have a feeling based on the shining faces I’m seeing around here you’re going to be men and women who do your duty in that time as well.”
The lecture was titled: “How to save America from the woke Left.”
Pence urged students to “stand for freedom” and against “cancel culture” and woke-ism that he argued is President Biden’s “order of the day.”
“Stand on the ramparts for freedom,” he said. “Be a freedom generation.”
The talk marked Pence’s third trip to Iowa this year, but it was the potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate’s first solo trip.
Earlier on Monday, Pence told WHO Radio that the U.S. was ““on the verge of a great conservative comeback all across this country.”
“I’m absolutely convinced that in 2022 we’re going to win back to Congress, we’re going to win statehouses around the country and come 2024 we’re going to win back America,” he said.
Pence heralded what he saw as the Trump administration’s achievements — including rebuilding the military, cutting taxes, and rolling back regulation.
