Former U.S. Vice President Mike Pence spoke at Middle Tennessee State University on Tuesday during the university's annual Constitution Day celebration — though he did not note if he will vote in the presidential election.

Pence spoke on “Defining Democracy” in conversation with MTSU Honors History Professor Mary Evins and took questions from the public in MTSU's Tucker Theatre.

The free event saw students, faculty and the general public fill the 831-seat theater with several protesters holding signs outside the building. The celebration also saw students recite the U.S. Constitution and register to vote across campus.

The 48th vice president's appearance at MTSU drew criticism from some students and community members in the weeks leading up to the event, including from the school's LGBTQ+ community, some of whom Evins said have “somehow felt fearful” of Pence's presence on campus.

"We had a controversy in Indiana when I was governor," Pence said, adding that he believes that “marriage is between one man and one woman.” 

"I stood up for people in my state, and I said, 'no one should ever be mistreated or abused because of who they are, who they love and what they believe.' I hope my career is reflective of that."

That statement was met with both applause and boos from the crowd.

“That's what freedom sounds like,” Pence responded

Pence did not shy away from answering questions from the public, including defending his decision in 2003 to support the United States' invasion of Iraq, reiterating his commitment to supporting Israel in the ongoing conflict in Gaza, and brushing off a call from one student for Pence to endorse current U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris in her bid for the presidency.

Pence characterized Harris as having a “radical left philosophy” and called the idea of endorsing her for president as “not possible.”

He also dodged a direct question from Evins on whether he would even vote in the upcoming general election, having previously said that he won't be endorsing former President and current Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who he served alongside.

Pence declined to field any questions from news media in attendance. When asked why he wouldn't speak to the press by The News, Pence responded that he “did that for four years.”

Pence defied Trump's attempts to overturn the legal certification of the 2020 election during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, which many American view as an insurrection.

Evins called Pence a “hero of the U.S. Constitution” who “will be in history books forever” for what she called “an act of moral and civic courage.”

“He will be remembered as the vice president of the United States, who, against all odds and against own personal advancement, believed so strongly in U.S. principles, in the U.S. Constitution and his own oath of office, ‘so help him God’ that he stood up for the U.S. Constitution.”

Despite the attack on the nation's capital, which saw chants of “hang Mike Pence” from MAGA rioters, Pence detailed in his 2024 memoir that he and his former boss (who he blamed for the attack) “parted amicably” before he “decided it would be best to go our separate ways” as Trump returned to his signature divisive rhetoric throughout the ongoing 2024 election cycle.

“I will always look at January 6 as a day that our institutions held,” Pence said.

Pence spoke about what he said is his top long-term domestic issue, “to restore the sanctity of life back to the center of American law,” referring to work across the nation aimed at further dismantling reproductive rights, and called work to “confront the debt crisis facing this generation” the “urgent calling of our time.”

He advocated for “restoring the fiscal integrity of the United States” and said that the U.S. should “recognize that China is the greatest economic and strategic threat the United States faces in the 21st century, and we have got to stand strong against China.”

Pence also contrasted his views from those of his former boss by reiterating his support for Ukraine in its ongoing war against Russia.

“What I learned when I was your vice president is, if America isn't the leader of the free world, the free world isn't being led,” Pence said.

“The reason I think the United States needs to support Ukraine is not, as President Biden has said many times, that Ukraine is some paragon of democracy…If [Russian President] Vladimir Putin overruns Ukraine, it will only be a matter of time before he crosses a border that our men and women in uniform are going to have to go fight.”

Despite the historic moment facing the nation, Pence voiced a message of hope.

“To solve the challenges America faces today, we should move back to and rededicate ourselves to the principles and the framework of the Constitution of the United States,” he told the crowd.

“I would just encourage you, do not worry about the future of democracy; participate in it. Do not worry about the future of the Republic. Be confident that our republic is strong, so long as we stand by the Constitution of the United States.”