Republican congressional vice presidential candidates polish their credentials while currying favor with Trump

WASHINGTON — For congressional leaders, weekly news conferences are an opportunity to set a policy agenda, communicate a message and create contrast with the opposing party.

For Elise Stefanik, chair of the Republican Conference of the House of Representatives and vice-presidential candidate, it is also an opportunity to stand in front of a television camera and praise Donald Trump.

“America is coming together to support President Trump to save America and fire Joe Biden,” Stefanik, R-N.Y., told reporters in his opening remarks at a recent news conference, praising him of having won a primary before turning to legislative affairs.

Stefanik also used his seat on the House Education Committee to exploit the conservative zeitgeist by confronting college presidents in televised hearings, fueling several resignations amid campus protests against Israel and Gaza .

And she’s not alone. Other vice presidential candidates like Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga. , are also using the opportunities offered to them in Congress to polish their credentials and appeal to Trump. This includes the use of their voting cards, their committee seats, their procedural tools, and – perhaps most importantly – their ability to go on television to speak to a single audience.

“He understands that the devil is in the details. So he’s putting his brilliant daughter-in-law in charge of our RNC apparatus,” Scott said on Sean Hannity’s Fox News show after Trump named Lara Trump as the new co-chair of the Republican National Committee.

“At the end of the day, you want the ball to be in the hands of the best player on the field. That player is Donald Trump,” he added in what appeared to be a thinly veiled audition tape for the vice president.

For decades, Capitol Hill has been a powerful launching pad for vice presidential candidates. Over the past 20 years, six of the eight elected officials have been members of Congress. A seventh, Mike Pence, was a former member who became governor of Indiana. Going back to 1992, nine of the ten running mates had congressional experience (with the exception of Sarah Palin, governor of Alaska, in 2008).

Sen. Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia, who was Hillary Clinton’s vice-presidential pick in 2016, said the nature of the GOP’s maneuvering on Capitol Hill was “different” than it was in the pass.

“Normally, being too bold about your ambitions is probably not a good thing. But Donald Trump is not a normal man. So I think these maneuvers are very unusual, but they’re kind of consistent with what people understand about Trump,” Kaine said in an interview. “The way to impress him is not to be a dedicated soldier who just keeps his head down and works. The way to impress him is to really flatter and flatter him.

Greene, the far-right congresswoman who has expressed interest in becoming vice president, sought to curry favor with Trump by embarking on a weeklong campaign to oust House Speaker Mike Johnson , R-La., accusing him of betraying the GOP and the MAGA movement. . His efforts failed Wednesday, as a large majority of Republicans and Democrats voted to reject his motion. Trump has largely stayed away from the fray, offering words of support to both camps.

“I love Marjorie Taylor Greene,” Trump said on social media after voting closed, while adding that it was “not the time” for his motion to vacate the president’s chair.

Vance, a former Trump critic turned staunch ally who was first elected in 2022, traveled the Sunday show circuit to align with a central theme of Trump’s campaign: Congress would not have had to certify Biden’s election in 2020, even though he won.

“If I had been vice president, I would have told the states – like Pennsylvania, Georgia and so many others – that we needed multiple slates of electors and I think the United States Congress should have fought from there,” Vance said. recently on ABC’s “This Week.” “This is the legitimate way to handle an election that many people, myself included, say had a lot of problems in 2020.”

In contrast, Rubio and Scott voted with the vast majority of the Senate to certify Biden’s victory in the hours after police cleared the Capitol rioters on January 6. Stefanik and Greene were among 139 House Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 result.

Trump’s claims of election denial have been a central theme of his campaign as he vows revenge on his enemies. Scott and Rubio took note. Scott repeatedly refused to say this month on NBC’s “Meet The Press” whether he would accept the outcome of the 2024 election. Rubio said on ABC that some Jan. 6 defendants had been “severely charged” for trespassing of the Capitol.

Vance has also carved out a niche for himself as an outspoken opponent of U.S. aid to Ukraine, aligning himself with many Trump voters.

A recent vote on an aid package for Ukraine and Israel highlighted the divisions. Vance and Rubio voted against it, while Scott spoke in favor but missed the vote. In the House, where the bills were split, Stefanik voted to help Israel but not Ukraine. Greene voted against both measures.

In his statement, Scott criticized Biden: “Congress’s efforts to support our allies should be applauded, but President Biden’s foreign policy has been a complete failure. »

Rubio’s “no” on aid to Ukraine and Israel highlights his evolution since 2016, when he presented himself as an outspoken foreign policy hawk favoring an active U.S. role in shaping global affairs. Critics accuse Rubio of pandering to MAGA-style nationalism, but Rubio’s allies say his views reflect changing realities in the United States and around the world.

Among the vice presidential contenders this year, Rubio has been less bombastic about Trump and has instead leaned on his legislative resume. He has used his position as the top Republican on the Intelligence Committee to highlight his hawkish approach to China, including as an early supporter of legislation banning TikTok, a popular app owned by a Beijing-based company that answers to the Chinese Communist Party. Allies note that he helped shape part of the 2017 tax cuts, Trump’s main domestic achievement as president.

Part of Rubio and Scott’s appeal is that they are both well-liked by Republican donors who are skeptical of Trump and his MAGA movement. This is less true for Vance and Greene.

But Rubio also avoids criticizing Trump and is quick to ignore reporters’ questions about his controversial or offensive statements. He seems aware of Trump’s red line of granting no legitimacy to the dozens of criminal charges he faces. Rubio even endorsed Trump’s sweeping claims about presidential immunity from prosecution for potentially committing crimes.

“Hillary told me, ‘There are better political choices than you, but if anything happened to me, you would be a good president.’ That’s not the way Donald Trump is going to approach it,” Kaine said. “He’s going to approach it like, ‘Who will be more loyal to me?’ When it seems like to be in the running you can’t even say you’ll respect the outcome of the election? That’s pretty dangerous.