Utah’s youngest state lawmaker brought his working-class roots to Washington, D.C., this month as part of a movement trying to change the course of the Republican Party.
Rep. Tyler Clancy , R-Provo, age 27, spoke on July 9 at the fourth “National Conservatism” convention, comprised of political leaders, professors and policy wonks hoping to steer the GOP away from corporate influence and toward a blue-collar populism to advance an “America First” agenda.
“As elected officials, we have more accountability to the people of America rather than companies that try to run this country,” Clancy said during his speech. Republicans are tasked with being a “check on the centralization of power by a few,” Clancy said, whether that be in the federal government or the marketplace.
Concluding the three-day-long event was an address from Ohio Sen. JD Vance , featuring a more culturally aggressive, less economically laissez-faire approach to GOP governance. Less than a week later, Vance was chosen by former President Donald Trump as his vice presidential pick in the 2024 general election and declared, by some, as the new face of the Republican Party .