Sen. J.D. Vance speaks during a news conference on border security at the U.S. Capitol on May 22, 2024. Former president Donald Trump has tapped Vance as his running mate in this year's election. reflects the ascendancy of the party’s populist economic wing — and the choice is alarming traditional conservative policymakers and elite donors who opposed the pick.
Vance has suggested a break with the Republican Party’s economic orthodoxy of the last several decades on a range of policy issues, including unions, antitrust, trade and taxes, even making comments that appear at odds with Trump, who The first-term senator has embraced a more active role for government intervention in the economy than most Republicans, emerging as a leader of a minority faction among GOP senators that also includes Sens. Josh Hawley and Marco Rubio . Vance has praised President Biden’s antitrust crusader at the Federal Trade Commission, called for a higher minimum wage and even onceon corporations — all positions anathema to conservatives.
Pence is now tied to a conservative think tank working to counter the influence of Vance and his allies on economic policy. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch was also opposed to Vance, pushing North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who espouses more traditional Republican economic views, according to two other people with knowledge of the matter, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. to call for government intervention to revitalize the U.S. defense industrial base.
“Senator Vance took the revolution in economic orthodoxy President Trump brought to the party,” Sharma said, “and became its foremost champion in the Senate.”