SALENA ZITO: In a political world gone topsy-turvy, Mike Pence is the party leader.

NEW YORK — When President Trump shook the political world, the epicenter was Pennsylvania, the one swing state Republicans had tried and failed to carry in each of the last six presidential elections. The flamboyant businessman targeted Pennsylvania from the start and addressed the Pennsylvania Republican Party’s signature fundraising event in Manhattan exactly two years ago this week.

Last Friday, the Pennsylvania Society reconvened in New York City, but this time, it was Vice President Mike Pence who drew the keynote speaking slot, a role Pence has accepted with vigor across the country since taking office.

And as he spoke eloquently of the White House’s accomplishments over the past 10 months, it was also estimated he raised nearly a half a million dollars, a number essential for a state party apparatus who not only helped place both him and the president in the White House but is also bracing for big in-state midterm elections next year for both governor and U.S. Senate, as well as holding all 13 of their GOP House congressional seats.

Pence’s appearance is notable for several reasons but not because this is a sign he is preening his own political ambitions or is creating a shadow campaign as other news organizations have reported but because he has unofficially taken on the role as the leader of the Republican Party.

“Without question, Pence has absolutely taken on the traditional role as leader of the Republican Party. The mistake is made when people reference his out-front fundraising activity as a lurch for personal gain, or some shadow campaign for himself; they could not be more wrong,” said Rob Gleason, former chair of the Pennsylvania state GOP who took a lot of personal heat when he invited Trump to headline the party’s fundraiser in New York in 2015.

“Pence came up in the Republican Party the traditional way, first getting elected … congressman, and ultimately as the state’s governor,” he said.

“And along the way, he knows the way to build the party from the ground up is to pay attention to the small races that can turn a majority in the House or a presidential election,” Gleason said recalling Pence, then chair of the House Republican Conference, campaigning at the Richland Township Fire Department near Johnstown, Penn., for a special election 2010.

“I know it is said all of the time, but Trump is Trump, and part of his uniqueness in American politics is that is that he is a completely different kind of president in terms of his relationship with party building,” Gleason explained.

Yep. Trump’s not really a Republican, he’s a Trumpian. Pence is more traditional.