Trump nominates ex-Rep David Brat as US ambassador to Australia, pending Senate confirmation
US President Donald Trump has nominated former Republican congressman and economics professor David Brat to be the next American ambassador to Australia, naming the Virginia conservative on Monday in Washington. As required, the nomination will need to be confirmed by the US Senate before he can take up the post.
The ambassadorship in Canberra has been vacant since Caroline Kennedy departed in late 2024, though it is not unusual for presidents to take time to fill the role. Brat, 61, did not immediately respond to a request for comment about his nomination.
A prominent figure in the Tea Party movement, Brat vaulted to national attention in 2014 with a primary victory over House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in Virginia—an upset The New York Times described as “one of the most stunning primary election upsets in congressional history.” He campaigned largely on the argument that Cantor was not conservative enough on immigration.
Born in Detroit, Brat earned a bachelor’s degree from Michigan’s Hope College, a master’s in divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, and a PhD. He became an economics professor at Virginia’s Randolph–Macon College and returned to academia after losing his House seat in 2018 to Democrat Abigail Spanberger, who is now the governor of Virginia.
He currently serves as senior vice president of business relations at Liberty University, a private, evangelical Christian institution. There had been speculation in Washington that Trump might choose a wealthy business executive or a figure from the entertainment industry for the Canberra post.
Multiple sources also said they had heard Trump encountered difficulty finding someone willing to in the Australian capital. In October, days after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s visit to the White House, Trump said he had one or two people in mind for the job and wanted to select someone Albanese would “like.” Brat’s ideological profile has drawn attention beyond politics.
A 2014 New York magazine profile described religion as a clear passion in his academic work and said he “could easily be the next big rock-star Christian academic.” Around the same time, The New Yorker called him “the Elizabeth Warren of the right,” as well as “a free-market purist and a devotee of Ayn Rand.” After Brat’s primary win that year, Trump—then not in office but weighing another presidential bid—posted on Twitter: “As I have said, the Tea Party is alive and well and fighting hard for the USA.
BIG WIN TODAY!” In a 2022 interview with Steve Bannon, two weeks into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Brat urged Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to accept a “deal” offered by Russian President Vladimir Putin that involved Ukraine surrendering territory, adopting permanent neutrality, severely limiting its military and renouncing NATO membership.
The Atlantic Council later described that proposal as “a call for unconditional surrender and a blueprint for the destruction of the Ukrainian state.” Brat told Bannon at the time: “As a Christian brother, I would tell him [Zelensky]: if you do not close on this deal, Kyiv, the other major cities, are going to be just devastated.” If confirmed, Brat would fill a key diplomatic post as Washington and Canberra continue to navigate security, economic and regional issues.
Until then, the US mission in Australia will remain under interim leadership.