John McCain pointed to the door of Senate subway train, telling a reporter recently to get out "if you’re going to ask about Trump.”

Informed instead the subject was Mike Pence, McCain relaxed, as the Arizona senator and 2008 GOP presidential nominee invited the reporter to ride along.


McCain’s willingness to talk Pence but dodge on Trump is shared broadly among his fellow Capitol Hill Republicans and reflects a genuine excitement about the Indiana governor who could be vice president. Capitol Hill Republicans believe Pence could be their man in the White House, a liaison they’re hoping would bend the nominee toward the conservative agenda they’re hoping for — and make the pride-swallowing they’ve done to back a man who spent the primary belittling them worth it after all.

Ted Cruz, who endorsed Trump in September after the most public of snubs of him in August, cited Pence as a big reason for the turnaround. "I sat down with Mike Pence, and we had a conversation about what it would take for me to come on board, that was the major issue I stressed, was the Supreme Court," the Texas GOP senator told conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt.

Beyond Cruz, the running mate’s 12 years in Congress and his even-keel demeanor in both private and public have kept disgruntled congressional Republicans from abandoning the GOP ticket. Concerned as they still are over Trump’s smorgasbord of ever-changing policy prescriptions and bombastic comments, GOP lawmakers believe that if there’s trouble with the Trump administration, their first call will be Vice President Pence.

“He has already said that … he plans to have an active presence here,” said Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, who recommended that Trump select Pence as she bowed out of the veepstakes this summer. “That has traditionally been the vice president’s role in the past, so they want to pick up that tradition again.”

“He’ll be a great coach for Trump,” added Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

So far, however, there’s scant evidence that Pence has the pull to bring Trump in his direction. And while campaigning and governance are different, on the trail, at least, Pence has been the one bending to Trump.

Pence is a long-time advocate of free trade and Trans-Pacific Partnership booster and now opposes TPP with Trump, calling instead for only unilateral trade deals. Pence frequently says, a bit confusingly, that he and Trump both support free trade — even as they aim to renegotiate the nation’s existing free trade agreements and relentlessly attack Hillary Clinton for her support of them. And Pence now supports Trump’s calls for “extreme vetting” and a ban on immigration from some areas of the Middle East, even though he wrote on Twitter in December: “Calls to ban Muslims from entering the U.S. are offensive and unconstitutional.”

“Mike will be a very good ally on Capitol Hill and has really good relationships here,” said Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). “But Donald will have to decide.”

Lawmakers will get more clues on that Tuesday, when, in his lone debate with Clinton running mate Tim Kaine, Pence will undoubtedly be pressed to answer for his differences with Trump.

Thus far, Pence has not moved the bloc of anti-Trump or neutral Republicans in the House or Senate beyond the recent conversion of Cruz. But his presence has brought Republicans skeptical of Trump to more enthusiastically embrace the ticket. They swoon over Pence’s steady demeanor, geniality and strong grasp of congressional procedure. And they are noticeably more comfortable talking about Pence than whatever Trump news of the day is on the media’s mind.

For people like McCain, who has supported Trump’s candidacy with a clenched jaw, Pence gives them something to be excited about.

“My intersection with [Pence] was a lot on immigration reform. We talked a lot, years ago when he was in the house. He was interested in the issue and conversations about it … he came to see me a couple times,” McCain recounted fondly.

That’s a sharp contrast to McCain’s demeanor when talking Trump: “I’ve said everything I have to say about Trump. What more do you want me to say? You want me to repeat myself over and over again?”

In a closed-door meeting with Pence earlier this month, Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) — a “yes, but” Trump supporter who loathes the nominee’s coarse language — stood up to single out Pence for not only making Lankford more comfortable with a Trump presidency, but for solidifying support for the ticket among Oklahoma conservatives as well. In an interview, Lankford recalled telling Pence that if Trump “fills the White House and agencies with people like you we’re in good shape.”

“For a lot of conservatives, they’ve heard Trump say for a year ‘I hire good people’ on the campaign trail,” Lankford said. “The first hire is the vice presidential pick.”

Gov. Mike Pence joins House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and House Majority Whip Steve Scalise for a news conference at the Republican headquaters on Capitol Hill, Sept. 13. | Getty

The Republican presidential ticket began with a major disadvantage on Hill relations given Trump’s antagonism of prominent Republicans like McCain and Hillary Clinton’s longstanding relations with lawmakers in both parties. The addition of Pence rather than someone like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie helped fill the void, but the Trump administration would start out in a major hole compared to how Clinton’s White House would run with Capitol Hill.

Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Kaine has excellent relationships with senators in both parties; Pence, on the other hand, is more of a partisan governing presence, Democrats said. They widely said they have little experience working with him.

“The only thing I think about Pence is: Why did he do it?” said Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), a moderate whose vote will be central to the success of any presidency next year.

For Trump’s administration, bipartisan appeal will have to come after getting Republicans on board. And there are plenty of questions that Republicans have about Trump’s agenda: Will Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan press appropriators to cough up the billions necessary to build a wall along the southern border? Will a family leave package like the one crafted by Ivanka Trump make its way to the floor? Just how big of a tax cut can Trump push through?

The answers to these questions could rest largely on Pence's ability to leverage the friendships he developed during more than a decade in Congress. Pence has already struggled to translate some of those relationships into support for Trump. Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake, for example, is one of Pence's closest friends, but has declined to support the ticket. Yet Flake has kept in contact with both Pence and Kaine during the campaign, and said that the importance of a prominent role for Pence “goes without saying.”

“He spent 12 years on Capitol Hill and he has relationships and knows how the place works,” Flake said. Clinton “certainly has better knowledge than Trump about how the Hill works.”

Pence has already played an important part in keeping the lines of communication open between Trump and congressional Republicans, making clear from the start his intention to build bridges to elements of the party at which Trump has been just as willing to throw bombs.

And Pence's choice of Speaker Paul Ryan to introduce him at the Republican National Convention in August was part of this effort, too, with his ability to work with his old colleague a major determining factor in just how consequential a Trump presidency is.

"Speaker Ryan is somebody whose career has been advancing policy," said Marc Short, Pence's communications chief. "There's a natural connection that he and Mike have had working together, not just as friends but in advancing a common cause."

Pence will play a "very central role in working with the Congress in advancing a common agenda," Short said.

Still Pence isn’t getting ahead of himself, telling a crowd in Colorado that “There's only one person that defines the role of the vice president."

However, Pence recently said Dick Cheney would be his vice presidential role model. The comparison is apt, Pence aides say, not because of policies, but because of Cheney's expansive portfolio and consequence within the administration. Cheney, too, had a career in Congress on which to rely as he served a president with no legislative experience — he also was the only vice president to consistently cast tie-breaking votes in recent years.

“Trump has acknowledged that he doesn't have the Capitol Hill experience and the governing experience that Mike Pence has,” said Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.). “He’s going to put Mike in a very key position in terms of dealing with Congress.”

Of course with Trump’s propensity to change his mind on a whim, Republicans also have to prepare for the possibility that Trump himself could begin to a take a keen interest in the Hill as a president. After all, he brags nonstop about what a good negotiator he is, and there’s no better place to test that thesis than in the Capitol.

