CLEVELAND — Donald Trump’s selection of Mike Pence to serve as his running mate was a welcome bit of reassurance to a Republican Party still suspicious of its presumptive presidential nominee.
Trump’s unorthodox populism was good enough to win the GOP nomination in a wild, crowded primary. But party insiders — operatives, donors and grassroots activists who man the trenches for the nominee every four years and are an important part of winning campaigns — have been slow to embrace Trump.
Veteran Republicans are worried that the New York businessman, who doesn’t share their views on a host of major issues, wouldn’t govern as a conservative. At the same time, there has been alarm over his public conduct and how he has managed his campaign since effectively securing the nomination in early May.
The opinions of the insiders matter, even if voters don’t care, because Trump needs their help if he’s going to be competitive. He has largely outsourced his campaign infrastructure to the Republican National Committee and is partly relying on GOP Chairman Reince Priebus’ fundraising connections to pay for it all.
Enter Pence. Trump tapping the Indiana governor and former congressman, 57, as his vice president was greeted with a big sigh of relief by many of the Republican delegates and RNC loyalists gathered in Cleveland for the party’s convention. Pence has deep ties to the conservative movement and holds traditional Republican views on issues that matter on the Right.
In other words, Pence’s position on key fiscal, social and foreign policy issues put him squarely at odds with Trump.
For that and other reasons, Pence is being interpreted as a sign that Trump isn’t interested in turning the party upside down, and that as president he would staff his administration with people who think like them, rather than people like approach politics and policy like him.
“I think Mike Pence is going to make a lot of conservatives feel very comfortable that there will be a strong conservative voice in the administration,” said Saul Anuzis, a delegate from Michigan and former long-time RNC member who previously supported Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
“Donald Trump is going to have to hire tens of thousands of people, if not hundreds of thousands of people, over time, with appointments and everything else in the government,” Anuzis added. “He’s going to be picking our people.”
Trump announced Pence as his pick in a Twitter post Friday morning. On Saturday, the two are set to appear together in public as a ticket during a morning news conference in Manhattan. Pence endorsed Cruz in the Indiana primary that Trump won to clinch the nomination, and they have only gotten to know each other recently.
Earlier in the week, as Republican operatives and party insiders anticipated the announcement, many made clear their desire for Pence, a known finalist, or someone like him who shares their ideological leanings.
They warned that given Trump’s populist positioning, choosing a running mate deemed insufficiently conservative could depress the base of the party and leave Trump undermanned in the field against presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
“It’s in Trump’s interest to pick someone whose selection will greatly enthuse the base of the Republican Party,” Morton Blackwell, a Virginia delegate who originally backed Cruz, told reporters a few days before Pence was selected.
Pence was well received by establishment conservatives and Republicans in Congress who have had few nice things to say about Trump.
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, a movement conservative who lost to Trump in the primary and has offered only a tepid endorsement of him since, immediately tweeted out his approval of the Pence pick. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who has publicly said he can’t vote for Trump, also tweeted out his approval.
Influential conservative political groups also offered high praise for Pence. Among them was the Club for Growth, a free-market advocacy organization that actively opposed Trump in the primary and spent money advertising against him.
Still, pockets of skepticism remain. Conservatives who are leery of Trump doubted that Pence would have any impact on his new boss’ decisions, both because vice presidents tend not to and because Trump is a strong personality who likes to call the shots.
“Can the leopard change its spots? At his core, Trump is still a big-government liberal,” a conservative political operative said. “Unless he’s willing to learn the Constitution from Pence, it’s hard to be optimistic. But at least now there’s an actual Republican on the GOP ticket.”
Kendal Unruh, a Colorado delegate who led a rebellion against Trump that fizzled in the convention rules committee that met in Cleveland on Thursday, said Pence has done nothing to change her mind.
Unruh has taken issue with Trump’s lack of conservative bona fides and loose attachment to the Republican Party. She also previously supported Cruz. The Texan was the last candidate standing against Trump in the primary and has a large following among the party’s conservative grassroots.
“We don’t vote on VP, nor do general election voters,” Unruh said, in a text message. “The red meat Trump just tossed to conservatives has the markings of ‘front man for the con man’ on the label.”
Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, a convention delegate and Trump skeptic who has declined to endorse, also seemed doubtful that Pence’s credentials would be enough to win over conservatives like him.
“There’s nothing about a VP pick itself that necessarily convinces anybody,” Lee said in an interview with the Washington Examiner. Lee backed Cruz in the primary; he also is close with Rubio.
Running mates can’t save a troubled candidacy. Nominees that aren’t good with the base might get a temporary bump with their own troops by picking a vice president they like, but it usually recedes, and their success is determined by their performance alone.
But Trump brings to the table his own base of populist voters, which could help him offset somewhat his problems with conservatives. If Pence can truly satisfy the party insiders, it could help ensure that Trump has the operational and financial support he needs to wage a competitive campaign.
“This is the sort of pick, for Donald Trump, that helps bring the party together and gives people confidence in his ability to be our president, and to lead the party and to lead the country,” said Henry Barbour, an RNC committeeman and convention delegate from Mississippi who did not support Trump in the primary and came around to him very reluctantly.
“It’s encouraging to me,” Barbour added.
At the very least, choosing Pence appeared to satisfy the most important political concern with his first presidential decision: He did no harm, picking someone whom voters are likely to see, at least initially, as having the background and experience to serve as president if need be.
