Mike Pence’s Wife Refused to Kiss Him on Election Night

The coldest place in the world was Mike Pence's house on Nov. 8, 2016.

In a new biography of the vice president, Piety & Power, author Tom LoBianco says the 2016 presidential election put a strain on the Pences' marriage. According to a Friday interview with LoBianco in the New York Times, Karen Pence "was livid" about the president's comments on a leaked Access Hollywood tape, in which he claimed that "when you're a star [women] let you" touch them wherever you please.

The conversation leaked in early October, almost exactly one month before the election. As LoBianco reports, the vice president felt it was "too late" in the race to take his name off the ticket, and much to everyone's surprise, Trump won.

The Second Lady was not pleased, and on the evening of Trump's victory, she reportedly refused to kiss her husband in protest.

"You got what you wanted, Mike," she said. "Leave me alone."

The book is available on Amazon and in stores now, but for those who don't want to shell out $26.99, the New York Times excerpt provides some juicy tidbits aside from Pence's icy relationship with "Mother," his nickname for the only woman he will dine with alone.

For instance, LoBianco claims that Pence may have more of a vested interest in Trump's looming impeachment fight than one might expect. According to the book, the only reason the former Indiana governor -- who passed a law discriminating against LGBTQ+ people during his time in office -- accepted the vice presidency is that he wants the Oval Office for himself.

"He hoped to run in 2016 and in fact even former President George W. Bush sent a message through intermediaries urging him to 'please stop Trump and save the Republican Party,'" the New York Times says of the book.

However, Trump considered Pence so "dry and ponderous" that he did not consider the vice president a threat to his ambitions.

"Apparently, Pence assumed that Trump would not run again in 2020, clearing the way for him," the Grey Lady continues. "Now he is committed to waiting another four years until 2024, unless impeachment leads to an earlier exit by the president."

But as Out previously reported, LGBTQ+ people have plenty of reason to hope that neither Pence nor Trump occupy the White House for much longer. In addition to passing a since-amended "turn away the gays" law as Indiana's governor, Pence believes being gay is a choice, fought to ban marriage equality in his home state, and arguably backed conversion therapy during his 2000 run for Congress.

And lest you feel too badly for Karen Pence, the Second Lady teaches at a school that prohibits teachers and students from being LGBTQ+.

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