JD Vance’s Inner Circle Includes Andrew Surabian
During his brief tenure in national politics, the Hillbilly Elegy author has built an inner circle that reflects his own identity: young, grounded in the “New Right” of the Republican Party, skeptical of mainstream conservative institutions and ideas, and unafraid to play the part of the political pugilist when it serves their interests. Like the 40-year-old Vance, many of his closest advisers scarcely knew the pre-Trump Republican Party — and if they did know the old GOP, they much prefer the new one.
Vance’s inner circle already bears the imprint of Trump’s influence, with a handful of advisers and staffers who have one foot in Vance’s camp and one foot in Trump world. But unlike Trump, Vance is deeply plugged into the New Right intellectual circles that have been driving the political debate within the conservative movement since 2016, and he looks to a core group of these writers, academics and right-leaning policy wonks for informal counsel and advice. Thanks to his days as a venture capitalist, he is also closely tied to the right-most flank of Silicon Valley and its techno-libertarian ideologies — some of which have been branded as “weird” by his new opponent, Democratic vice presidential pick Tim Walz.
For that reason, Vance’s network — or at least his Venmo contacts — looks a bit different than your average politician’s. Here’s our breakdown of the people who guide Vance’s political operation and shape his thinking, based on original reporting and interviews with people who know and have worked with Vance.
A close advisor to Donald Trump Jr., Surabian is a primary conduit between Vance’s political operation and Trump world at Mar-a-Lago. While helping to run Vance’s campaign in 2022, he is credited with orchestrating the rapprochement between Vance and Don Jr. that ultimately led to Trump’s endorsement of Vance. Prior to that, he was a key member of Trump’s “war room” during the 2016 campaign and served as a key advisor to Steve Bannon during his stint as Trump’s chief of staff.
