Vander Veen turned the election into a referendum on the increasingly unpopular U.S. President Richard Nixon. He stopped campaigning directly against his opponent, and instead took out newspaper advertisements "in which he promised to do his utmost to dislodge Nixon and turn the presidency over to Ford, a political folk hero in the district." This upset caused a panic in the Republican Party leadership, as it appeared to foreshadow more losses for the party in the November elections.
Vander Veen's strategy of turning the election into a referendum on President Nixon's popularity and his subsequent campaign against him through advertisements, which aimed to remove Nixon from office and hand over the presidency to Ford, caused concern within the Republican Party leadership as it suggested more losses for them in the upcoming November elections.