Rebekah Mercer, one of Trump's biggest backers, will play a central role in the fight over the future of the influential conservative think tank Heritage Foundation, a battle that could be indicative of the direction traditional conservative institutions take in the Trump era.



In the last few years, amid her rapid ascent to Republican influence, Mercer became a Heritage board member and, this week, voted to remove former Senator Jim DeMint from his position as president. Although Mercer will be one of the 22 board members selecting Heritage's next leader and deciding its path forward, she has a reputation for exercising strict control over the direction of the political causes she gets involved in.

Mercer's arrival and presence on the board itself, sources said, seems to be the clearest sign that Heritage will not return to its former iteration as a conservative policy think tank, and instead remain the more aggressive political entity the group has operated as under DeMint and Heritage Action leader Mike Needham. It also means that the group could move closer to the views of the Trump administration — a more nationalist, populist ideology also supported by the Mercers.

Bill Walton, who serves on Heritage's board alongside Mercer, called her role "influential" but not necessarily "outsized" in determining Heritage's future, while acknowledging that the group will remain politically involved — just not as much as it has been. "It's a turning of the dial," he said.

Walton also said that in figuring out the path forward for Heritage, the board is grappling with the rise of populism and how that fits in with their conservative ideology. "We've got to recognize what that means," he said. "It's a real phenomenon and we need to think about."

It's unlikely that Heritage's new leader will be a populist, Walton said, but they're looking for someone "who understands that America is changing."

Regardless of its recent tensions, the Heritage Foundation remains a major think tank in Washington with many, many employees, a large building, a significant budget, and long-standing relationships. It's the kind of institution that could be used as a bludgeon or a talent farm in the right hands. And Mercer and her father, the billionaire hedge fund magnate Robert Mercer, have a keen interest in introducing "new" people into politics.



After decades of being a powerful conservative think tank, Heritage in recent years became more political under DeMint, taking on more moderate Republicans and GOP leadership. It was during the height of Heritage’s battles with Republican leadership in 2014 when Mercer joined the group.



Although the family gives to several nonprofits, Mercer became a part of Heritage after she caught the attention of the foundation’s Board of Trustees Chairman Thomas Saunders III, according to the Washington Post, at an event following the 2012 election where wealthy donors were trying to figure out what Republicans did wrong.

Now, in voting DeMint out of Heritage, as those close to the group express the need to go back to its more intellectual, policy-driven roots, former Heritage and DeMint employees see the board’s desire to return to policy as an excuse that won’t actually happen — in part, some believe, because of Mercer. They also think it’s too late for the nonprofit to return to its conservative policy-focused glory days, especially under President Trump, whose populist views often clash with what has been considered conservatism in recent decades.

"The narrative that Heritage is ousting DeMint to return to its intellectual roots is horse manure," said a source close to the former senator.

"(DeMint) is a guy who, literally, ran his campaign for the House off Heritage pamphlets and incorporated their policy thoughts and ideas into a winning career on the Hill,” the source said. “Their reputation among many of the staffers and allies they are supposed to be influencing on Capitol Hill is now dead.”

Rory Cooper, former spokesman for Heritage, was also skeptical of the group going back to its former level of influence. “DeMint’s departure and how it was handled is a low point for an organization that was once revered as a preeminent conservative think tank, but is now frustratingly mired in one political controversy after another.”



Asked about whether Heritage could earn back its reputation as a policy-focused group among lawmakers, Kim Holmes, Heritage's vice president of research, said he's "aware of the controversies and the questions." "I'm just trying to move on," he said. In terms of whether the policy research will be more in line with Trump's views, he added: "The Heritage Foundation as an institution has been here for a long time and will be here after Donald Trump."