Updated August 8, 2026 — 12:24pm,first published August 8, 2026 — 5:25amWashington: Before there was Abdul El-Sayed, the left-wing insurgent who upset the Democratic establishment in Michigan this week, there was David Brat.The former Republican congressman, appointed by Donald Trump to be ambassador to Australia, was finally confirmed by the Senate on Friday (US time). But in Washington, he is best known for shocking the political elite by defeating sitting House of Representatives speaker Eric Cantor in a Republican primary for his Virginia seat in 2014.Dave Brat during his time as a Republican congressman representing Virginia.APTea Party Republicans claimed it as a momentous victory. “This is a miracle from God that has happened,” Brat, a deeply religious Calvinist, told supporters at his election night party.“Dollars do not vote – you do … Power belongs to the people, and that’s what we’re gonna do.”It was a speech rebuking the system and the massive amount of outside funding that flowed to his opponent. It was the exact message El-Sayed delivered 12 years later.The morning after, a young man named Taylor Budowich, then director of a group called the Tea Party Express, went on CNN to dance on Cantor’s political grave.“The problem is these DC politicians go to DC, get hooked up in the cocktail circuit and the power structure around DC, and lose touch with their district and their voters,” he said.Years later, Budowich became a key adviser to Trump while he was out of office, then joined his official campaign team in 2024, and eventually served as a White House deputy chief of staff.Rather than embedding the dominance of the Tea Party, what Brat’s 2014 win really marked was the start of Trumpism. And it is through that close political connection – as much as his role in Canberra – that he will enjoy the ear of the president.Brat’s arrival will fill a diplomatic post that has been vacant for nearly two years, since Joe Biden’s appointee, Caroline Kennedy, departed in late 2024.Nominated US ambassador to Australia David Brat during his confirmation hearing at the US Senate in May.US CongressTrump did not nominate Brat until April. He was finally confirmed by the Senate on Friday afternoon (US time) as part of a block of 74 nominations, including judicial and political postings, ahead of the long summer recess.The vote was 51-47 on party lines. Earlier, Democratic Senate leader Chuck Schumer accused Republicans of “ramming through a nominations package that’ll put a grab-bag of MAGA charlatans into the highest positions of power”.Schumer’s office did not respond to an emailed question asking whether he counted Brat among those “MAGA charlatans”.The confirmation means that Brat can arrive in Canberra ahead of the 75th anniversary of the ANZUS Treaty between Australia, New Zealand and the US, which will be commemorated on September 1.David Brat pictured with Donald Trump in 2015.Getty ImagesAs ambassador, Brat will have to navigate key matters in the US-Australia alliance, including the AUKUS defence pact, critical minerals and Australia’s treatment of the America-dominated tech industry.His appointment was welcomed by Albanese government frontbencher Chris Bowen on Saturday during a news conference. Bowen noted that it was not unusual for such postings to be left vacant for long periods, with career diplomats capable of running the show.Brat, 62, was born in Detroit and gained a bachelor of arts from Michigan’s Hope College, before obtaining his master’s in divinity at Princeton Theological Seminary, and a PhD.He is also an economist who was once described as a “free-market purist”. But recently, he has defended Trump’s tariffs, arguing they were aimed at addressing unfair trade practices.Before his nomination as ambassador, Brat was a regular guest and fill-in host on Steve Bannon’s influential MAGA podcast, War Room.Last month, Bannon told this masthead that he helped find Brat for the Republicans back in 2014 – and that the former congressman would be “the perfect man for the job” in Canberra.“David was a forerunner of populist nationalism, he has access to the highest levels of power, and he has a big presence in MAGA media,” Bannon said.Brat ultimately lost his Virginia seat to Democrat Abigail Spanberger in 2018, and returned to academia, becoming senior vice president of business relations at a private evangelical college, Liberty University.But his moment in the sun, right before the rise of Trumpism, made him a hero to his Republican fellow travellers. He will have no doubt about who he is representing in Canberra.Get a note directly from our foreign correspondents on what’s making headlines around the world. Sign up for our weekly What in the World newsletter.From our partners