Vance, who won Ohio’s GOP Senate primary, calls neoreactionist Curtis Yarvin a friend. But in recent months, a strand of conservative thought whose adherents are forthright in their disdain for democracy has started to creep into GOP politics. It’s called “neoreaction,” and its leading figure, a software engineer and blogger named Curtis Yarvin, has ties to at least two GOP U.S. Senate candidates, along with Peter Thiel, a major GOP donor. Then, in May 2022, Vanity Fair reported on the relationship among Yarvin, GOP megadonor and venture capitalist Peter Thiel and U.S. Senate candidates J.D. Yarvin, meanwhile, has given $5,800, the maximum amount allowed for individual contributions, to Blake Masters’ Senate campaign.