Is Mike Pence's political comeback effort working?
Plus: The IMPORTANTVILLE Green Room returns with the IN House Democratic Comms Director.
The Indiana pol felt triggered by the woke corporate execs at Disney.
He argued that a "mischievous liberal" at the entertainment company was at it again. He lamented “Walt Disney's attempt to add childhood expectation to the cultural debate….”
The year was 1999. It wasn’t Indiana’s 3rd Congressional Rep. Jim Banks making this argument. (Though he made a similar one just this week on "The Ingraham Angle” talking about the company's support of a new Florida law that forbids classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade.) Banks was just 20 at the time.
Nor was it Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was still pitching for the Yale University baseball team.
It was, instead, another Indiana politician: Mike Pence.
Pence, who authored the above remarks in an op-ed for his radio program “The Mike Pence Show,” was already all-in on the culture wars, criticizing Disney’s “Mulan” as pro-women-in-the-military propaganda.
As other potential 2024 GOP presidential contenders try to goose the news cycle by taking avant-garde positions in the culture wars, Pence has most of them beat by decades. And he has them beat in other areas, too.
No 2024 GOP hopeful has recently put together a better string of weeks than the former veep, who released his 2022 midterm agenda this week.
In the early hours of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Pence went on Sean Hannity. In his appearance, he almost single-handedly revived the hawkish impulses of the Republican party by blasting Biden for his "weak" response. This came as fellow 2024 hopefuls—Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo among them—had hailed Putin's moves as "genius" and "savvy," respectively. Then, Pence visited the Ukrainian-Poland border, meeting with refugees of the crisis in an artfully and carefully choreographed photo-op, as Trump vented at Mar-a-Lago.
Closer to home, at the Republican National Committee's spring retreat in New Orleans, Pence solidified his break with Trump, declaring "there is no room in this party for apologists for Putin. There is only room for champions of freedom." RNC donors swooned. Pence followed it up by making a $10 million ad buy targeting vulnerable Democrats over the issue of energy prices in 11 states through his Advancing American Freedom outfit, a 2024 campaign shop in waiting.
Pence's path back to the hearts of GOP's base is no easy one. They are of course still angry with him for saving Democracy on Jan. 6. And some anti-Trump Republicans will forever see him as a Trump pawn. Trump himself this week officially cut Pence off, telling the Washington Examiner: “I don’t think the people would accept” another Pence vice presidency, should Trump run again in 2024, as he is widely expected to.
As Trump plays political checkers, Pence plays chess, building up chits and political operations in early voting states like South Carolina. As the midterms loom, Trump won't be welcome in every suburban district where he could turn off swing voters; Pence will be, a dynamic that played out in the Virginia gubernatorial race last fall. Meanwhile, Pence's fluency with the feverish culture wars is unparalleled.
The polling hasn’t quite caught up to the dynamics on the ground. A Reuters/Ipsos poll that was released earlier in January showed Trump had 54 percent in a hypothetical match-up and Pence only had 8 percent. The Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and the Harris Poll found Pence as the non-Trump favorite in a hypothetical matchup with DeSantis, winning 32% support, while DeSantis had just 20%. When included in the field, Trump drew 58% support, compared to Pence’s 13% and DeSantis’ 9%.
Pence's stock may seem low, but his strategically executed comeback is unfolding. His appearances on Fox have ticked up. And his recent moves on Ukraine have gained him a net three-percent boost in his approval rating as of March 14, per Morning Consult.
Happy Sunday, and welcome back to IMPORTANTVILLE.
AROUND IMPORTANTVILLE
Donald Trump’s pollster, Tony Fabrizio, feared Pete Buttigieg more than any other Democratic candidate in 2020, he told David Axelrod. “I thought Buttigieg, and I told this to Trump, I thought he represented generational change. And I thought he would be more difficult. Again, he wasn't of Washington, you know what I'm saying? He could easily be the change agent. We were the incumbent.”
Nikki Haley posed with Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch.
Mike Pompeo is headlining an Indianapolis fundraiser with Rep. Jim Banks.
IMPORTANTVILLE READS
Big stories about Hoosiers and Indiana issues that move the needle.
“Pete Buttigieg Is Living His Best Life,” by Ross Barkan in New York Magazine
Now on everyone’s shortlist of possible presidential contenders, Buttigieg is reflective, if circumspect, about his future. “I don’t know if I’ll run for office ever again,” he says, pausing carefully before answering yet another question about what comes next. “It’s there,” he acknowledges of the political chatter, particularly talk of a future clash with Vice-President Kamala Harris, who has recently been the subject of stories of palace intrigue in the press. (According to a new book by New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns, Biden’s staffers have been rolling their eyes at the “First World problems” that seem to preoccupy the vice-president, including an unflattering cover shoot for Vogue.) “The main thing is just not to be distracted by it,” Buttigieg says. “There’s literally no time.” However, he admits he offers communication advice when requested to a White House that has struggled to convey its accomplishments to voters.
“Inside Pence-world's preparation for a Jan. 6 legal showdown,” by Betsy Woodruff Swan and Kyle Cheney in Politico
As forces loyal to Donald Trump began calling on Mike Pence to single-handedly stop Joe Biden from becoming president, the then-vice president dashed off a request in late 2020 to his top lawyer: Just how much power did he actually have over certifying electoral votes?
“Wednesday Q+A with Sen. Todd Young,” by Savannah Behrmann in National Journal (paywall)
“When I came into the Senate, it was clear to me that the United States did not have a coherent, cohesive economic policy [on] the Chinese Communist Party, because there is a clear national security dimension to economic policy. We had gotten a number of subsets of economic policy correct: export controls, applying tariffs to China when they violated our intellectual-property laws, for example. But there was no written plan as it related to areas like innovation policy and in some other areas of economic statecraft.
In light of that, I began consulting with experts … a number of my colleagues and some of the world's most respected people in this area. They agreed that coming up with doctrine analogous to what the Defense Department does, periodically, made sense. That led to drafting a national economic-security-strategy mandate for the federal government, which was sanctioned by Secretary of State Pompeo during his confirmation hearing. It later became the global economic-security strategy, working with the Trump administration. And one subset of that sort of high-level planning effort is, of course, our innovation policy.
It so happened that Chuck Schumer shared some similar thinking when it came to the need to come up with a written national innovation strategy, and he also understood that we're going to have to resource that strategy in a big way. …
As the legislation has evolved in the last couple of years, we built out the innovation-investment piece and included supply-chain-resiliency legislation, the CHIPS Act. We’ve also included a tech-hub component designed to ensure that we harness the talents and energies and creativity of people across the heartland, so that we can outcompete the Chinese Communist Party in the 21st century.”
THE IMPORTANTVILLE GREEN ROOM: Hannah Smith, Indiana House Democratic Caucus Communications Director
A semi-regular section, featuring a political staffer or lobbyist you should know.
How did you get into politics?
Political discourse, or rather political debate, was commonplace in my household. My parents sit at two ends of the political spectrum, so I've been exposed to Republican and Democratic politics my entire life. I attended political rallies for George Bush and Barack Obama, knocked on doors, protested, the whole nine yards while still in middle school.
I've been working professionally at the Statehouse since graduating which feels like the perfect place to square my political interests with the ability to do my bit of good.
Why are you a Democrat?
Out of a love for all people.
How did you get the House Democrats to start a TikTok? Is it working?
Since taking over as Communications Director in November, it's been my number one goal to have our members and message everywhere. Achieving this in a Republican supermajority comes with a plethora of different challenges and opportunities requiring a degree of strategic creativity and accessibility. TikTok skyrocketed in popularity over the course of the pandemic presenting a unique opening for the caucus to be ahead of the curve and engage new audiences.
Like all change within a bureaucratic organization, there can be a certain level of resistance in trying something new, which is natural. There is a common misconception that TikTok is a frivolous app for dancing teenagers and pranks when in reality it holds the breadth and depth of content found on other social media platforms. It was important as a practitioner to emphasize the value of TikTok's viral videos and friendlier algorithms to have the platform viewed as a priority.
The Indiana House Democrats' TikTok account has reached approximately 2 million views in 3 short months, which is unlike engagement seen on other social media channels in the Indiana General Assembly. More importantly, House Democrats have been able to create a community of fellow red-state Democrats to rally around the issues and causes we care about most.
The caucus' TikTok success couldn't have happened without our Senior Press Secretary Anna Groover. Her talent, humor and creativity make everyone around her better.
What's a recent book or show you couldn't put down/stop?
What's your favorite thing about Indiana?
My employer, the Indiana House Democratic Leader Phil GiaQuinta, duh.
Aside from the obvious ploy for brownie points, I'd say the best thing about Indiana is its famous 'Hoosier hospitality.' It's a real thing. I grew up in Ohio but have been a Hoosier for the past 7 years. I've yet to meet kinder or more welcoming people than those in Indiana.
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