Last month, Senator Josh Hawley from Missouri cast the sole Republican vote in favor of consumer protections against bank overdraft fees, aligning himself unexpectedly with Democratic lawmakers. Hawley, recognized for his vocal opposition to “wokeness” across various sectors and his raised fist gesture supporting President Trump’s followers prior to the January 6 Capitol events, continues to defy his party’s traditional stance.
This vote on overdraft fees is not an isolated example of Hawley breaking ranks. Earlier in 2023, he introduced legislation to limit monthly out-of-pocket insulin costs to $25, but the bill stalled due to insufficient Republican backing. Additionally, he opposed proposed Medicaid budget cuts during reconciliation efforts, diverging from mainstream GOP positions.
In March, Hawley collaborated with Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat from New Jersey, to propose a bill aimed at expediting the contracting process for newly formed labor unions. Although Republican Senator Bernie Moreno of Ohio co-sponsored the bill, Hawley noted in a recent interview that no other Republican senators supported it.
Since becoming the youngest member of the Senate at age 39 in 2019, Hawley has navigated a unique course: championing socially conservative values prominently, while quietly embracing populist policies that occasionally align with figures like Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont.
Political analyst Matt Stoller, a former Senate aide, observes that Hawley’s broader objective appears to be dismantling the longstanding alliance between social conservatives and corporate interests that has persisted since the Reagan administration.
The label “populist” often evokes images of historic southern figures such as Andrew Jackson and Huey Long, whose backgrounds contrast sharply with Hawley’s upbringing as the son of a Missouri banker and education at Stanford and Yale Law School. Nevertheless, Hawley has adopted the populist narrative of prioritizing working-class Americans over elite groups, a theme central to former President Trump’s rise.
