WESTFIELD, Ind. (CN) - In what may have amounted to a public audition to be Donald Trump's pick for vice president, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence introduced the presumptive Republican presidential nominee at a rally on Tuesday night.
The event held at Westfield's Grand Park started around 8:30, almost an hour late, with Pence taking the stage first to endorse and offer support for Trump.
"We are ready for a change in this state," Pence said to loud applause. "We are ready to put a fighter, a builder and a patriot in the Oval Office of the United States of America. We are ready for Donald Trump to be our next president."
Trump echoed back support for the Republican Indiana governor, but stopped short of endorsing him as his pick for a running mate, only alluding to his status as a finalist.
"I don't know if he's going to be your governor or your vice president, who the hell knows?" Trump said grinning.
Despite the night's late start, most stayed throughout Trump's near-hour speech, where the New Yorker touched on issues such as foreign trade, boosting the strength of the military, and building a wall along the county's southern border with Mexico.
"We will build the wall, that I can tell you," Trump said.
The real estate mogul then prompted the crowd to shout "Mexico" in response to his question of "who is going to pay for the wall?"
Trump voiced support for police offers but otherwise had little comment on the the series of high-profile shootings across the nation that has underscored tensions over race relations, gun control and police autonomy.
Last week a sniper formerly with the Army Reserve killed five Dallas police officers at a protest over the recent killings of two black men by police.
"I am the law-and-order candidate," Trump said. "We have to take care of our police and our law enforcement officials."
Pence is a staunch social conservative and, despite being locked in a heated governor's race with Democratic candidate John Gregg, he is on the short list of Trump's pick for vice president. A decision Trump has said he would make in the next few days.
This timetable is crucial for Pence who has a Friday deadline to decide if he will bow out of the governor's race so that his party can replace him with another candidate.
One rally attendee said she would support Pence as Trump's VP pick, but only so Pence would "get out of the state."
Other names in the mix to be Trump's running mate are New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
During his warm-up speech, Pence slammed presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton on the death of Americans in Benghazi. "As a proud father of a United States Marine," Pence opened, "let me say from my heart, we don't need a president who took 13 hours to send help to Americans under fire."
"Anyone who did that should be disqualified from ever being commander in chief of the armed forces of the United States of America," Pence regarding Clinton.
Pence was also keen to take jabs Sen. Bernie Sanders, who earlier in the day officially endorsed Clinton.
"He's the nicest socialist I have ever served with in Washington D.C.," Pence said with regard to a past time when they both served in U.S. House of Representatives.
Trump's jabs at Clinton focused on her handling of classified emails during her time as secretary of the State Department.
"The greatest single thing, in my opinion, that she has ever done is to get out of the email problem," Trump said. "I think it's incredible, she did a great job on that. She was so guilty."
FBI Director James Comey told Congress last week that he recommended no charges for Clinton because her actions, though "extremely careless," did not evince criminal intent. Attorney General Loretta Lynch testified earlier Tuesday in the House about closing the investigation, saying she was determined to accept [Comey's] recommendation."
The State Department meanwhile is still investigating the matter.
Trump concluded his speech by reminding the Hoosier crowd of his campaign slogan.
"We're going to win at every level, and we are going to make America so great again," Trump said. "We're going to make America greater than ever before."
Barring a strange turn of events, Trump should become the official presidential nominee of the Republican Party during their National Convention in Cleveland, which runs from July 18 to 21.
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