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Conservative Political Action Conference

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Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC)
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Basic facts
Location:Alexandria, Virginia
Affiliation:Conservative
Top official:Matthew Schlapp
Year founded:1974
Website:Official website


The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is an annual conference organized by the American Conservative Union since 1974. On its website, CPAC described itself as "the largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world."[1]

CPAC 2025 took place on February 19-22, 2025, in National Harbor, Maryland.[2] Speakers included President Donald Trump (R), Vice President J.D. Vance (R), former British Prime Minister Liz Truss, and Elon Musk.[3]

Background

The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) began in 1974 and was born out of the pre-existing Conservative Awards Dinners. In 1995, it was decided that CPACs would be held in various locations around the country. In 2011, the first regional CPAC was held in Orlando, Florida.[4]

The conference is four days long. It begins with the Activism Boot Camp, a program that brings together conservative organizations involved in activism training and campaign management. The other three days of the conference bring together political leaders of the conservative movement with the people who make up the movement.[5]

The American Conservative Union described the mission of CPAC on its website in 2021:[6]

“

Every year since 1974, ACU proudly hosts The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the nation’s largest gathering of conservatives. Elected officials, leading conservative voices and thousands of activists convene in National Harbor, Maryland to deepen and broaden knowledge while equipping conservatives with skills to become more effective activists.

In its 45 year history, CPAC has been honored to present prominent conservatives including Presidents of the United States, Vice Presidents, cabinet officials, Members of Congress, members of the judiciary, conservative thought leaders and foreign officials.[7]

”

Leadership

The following individuals were in leadership positions at CPAC as of July 2025:

Work and activities

CPAC 2025

CPAC 2025 took place on February 19-22, 2025, in National Harbor, Maryland.[9]

The following speakers were listed on the CPAC 2025 website:[10]

U.S. politicians and other officials

CPAC officials

  • Gordon Chang, CPAC board member
  • Christos Marafatsos, CPAC board member
  • KT McFarland, CPAC board member
  • Jim McLaughlin, CPAC board member
  • Erik Prince, CPAC board member
  • Matthew Schlapp, chairman of CPAC
  • Mercedes Schlapp, CPAC senior fellow
  • Bill Walton, CPAC board member

Political commentators and media personalities

  • Steve Bannon, host of WarRoom
  • Patrick Bet-David, podcaster and businessman
  • Matt Boyle, Washington bureau chief at Breitbart News Network
  • Sara Carter, host of The Sara Carter Show
  • Ben Ferguson, host of The Ben Ferguson Show
  • Josh Hammer, opinion editor at Newsweek
  • Jan Jekielek, senior editor of The Epoch Times
  • Benny Johnson, content creator
  • Julie Kelly, host of Declassified with Julie Kelly
  • Megyn Kelly, host of The Megyn Kelly Show
  • Michael Knowles, host of The Michael Knowles Show
  • Mark Levin, host of The Mark Levin Show
  • Alex Lorusso, political influencer and executive producer of The Benny Show
  • Larry O'Connor, host of The Larry O'Connor Show
  • Julio Rosas, senior writer for Townhall
  • Kurt Schlichter, senior columnist for Townhall
  • Fanchon Stinger, co-host of Morning on Merit Street
  • Ben Shapiro, host of The Ben Shapiro Show

International speakers

  • Santiago Abascal, leader of Spanish political party VOX
  • Jordan Bardella, chair of Patriots for Europe
  • Eduardo Bolsonaro, member of the Brazilian Chamber of Deputies
  • Amichai Chikli, Israeli Minister for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism
  • Andrew Cooper, co-founder and host of CPAC Australia
  • Nigel Farage, leader of the British Reform Party
  • Robert Fico, prime minister of Slovakia
  • Javier Milei, president of Argentina
  • Mateusz Morawiecki, member of the Sejm of the Republic of Poland
  • Warren Mundine, chairman of CPAC Australia
  • Miklós Szánthó, CPAC Hungary organizer
  • Liz Truss, former British prime minister
  • Eduardo Verástegui, CPAC Mexico president

Other

  • Dean Cain, actor
  • Savannah Chrisley, senior fellow at Nolan Center for Justice
  • Mike Davis, founder and president of Article III Project
  • Erika Donalds, chair of America First Policy Institute Center for Education Opportunity
  • Kimberly Fletcher, president, founder, and chief executive officer of Moms for America
  • Hogan Gidley, vice chair of the Center for Election Integrity at the America First Policy Institute
  • Tim Kennedy, UFC fighter and special forces operator
  • Julie Strauss Levin, special counsel for the America First Legal Foundation
  • Mike Lindell, founder and chief executive officer of MyPillow
  • Chris Macchio, singer
  • Robert Malone, physician
  • Mary Millben, singer
  • Natasha Owens, musician
  • Kari Lake, former 2024 Arizona U.S. Senate candidate
  • Penny Nance, chief executive officer and president of Concerned Women for America
  • Mike Rowe, host of the TV series Dirty Jobs
  • Michael Saylor, executive chairman of Strategy
  • Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project
  • Robby Starbuck, filmmaker

CPAC 2024

CPAC 2024 took place on February 21-24, 2024, in National Harbor, Maryland.[11]

The following is an abbreviated list of speakers who attended CPAC 2024:[11][12]

  • Donald Trump, former president of the United States and 2024 Republican presidential primary candidate
  • Steve Bannon, political commentator and strategist
  • Nayib Bukele, president of El Salvador
  • Ben Carson, former secretary of housing and urban development
  • Byron Donalds, U.S. representative from Florida
  • Nigel Farage, honorary president of Reform UK
  • Tulsi Gabbard, former U.S. representative from Hawaii
  • Matt Gaetz, U.S. representative from Florida
  • Sebastian Gorka, former deputy assistant to the president
  • Jim Jordan, U.S. representative from Ohio
  • Megyn Kelly, political commentator
  • Kari Lake, 2024 candidate for U.S. Senate in Arizona
  • Mark Levin, political commentator
  • Mike Lindell, businessman
  • David McCormick, 2024 candidate for U.S. Senate in Pennsylvania
  • Javier Milei, president of Argentina
  • David Milstein, former special assistant to the U.S. ambassador to Israel
  • Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota
  • Ken Paxton, attorney general of Texas
  • Jack Posobiec, political commentator
  • Vivek Ramaswamy, former 2024 presidential candidate
  • Elise Stefanik, U.S. representative from New York
  • Joseph Strickland, Catholic bishop
  • Lara Trump, candidate for co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee
  • Liz Truss, former British prime minister
  • Tommy Tuberville, U.S. senator from Alabama
  • J.D. Vance, U.S. senator from Ohio


CPAC 2023

CPAC 2023 took place on March 1-4, 2023, in National Harbor, Maryland.[13]

The following is an abbreviated list of speakers who attended CPAC 2023:[14]

  • Donald Trump, former president of the United States and 2024 Republican presidential primary candidate
  • Jair Bolsonaro, former president of Brazil
  • Ted Cruz, U.S. senator from Texas
  • Marjorie Taylor Greene, U.S. representative from Georgia
  • Nikki Haley, former U.N. ambassador and 2024 Republican presidential primary candidate
  • Mike Pompeo, former secretary of state
  • Rick Scott, U.S. senator from Florida
  • Elise Stefanik, U.S. representative from New York

CPAC 2022

CPAC 2022 took place on February 25-27, 2022, in Orlando, Florida. To view an archive of the agenda for CPAC 2022, click here.

The following is an abbreviated list of speakers who attended CPAC 2022:[15]

CPAC 2021

The following document features the agenda for CPAC 2021, which took place on February 25-28, 2021, in Orlando, Florida. Former President Donald Trump delivered the keynote address.

The following is an abbreviated list of speakers who attended CPAC 2021:[16]

CPAC speakers, 2017-2020

This section includes a sampling of speakers from CPAC events held between 2015 and 2020.[17][18][19][20][21][22][23]

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ CPAC, "Home," accessed February 24, 2021
  2. ↑ CPAC, "CPAC in DC 2025," July 28, 2025
  3. ↑ C-SPAN, "Conservative Political Action Conference," accessed July 28, 2025
  4. ↑ ACU, "History," accessed July 28, 2025
  5. ↑ CPAC, "About," accessed July 28, 2025
  6. ↑ American Conservative Union, "About," accessed February 24, 2021
  7. ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
  8. ↑ Practicing Law Institute, "Matthew A. Schlapp," accessed July 28, 2025
  9. ↑ CPAC, "CPAC in DC 2025," accessed July 30, 2025
  10. ↑ CPAC, "Speakers," accessed July 30, 2025
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Independent, "Who’s speaking at CPAC? All the scheduled presenters," February 24, 2025
  12. ↑ Washington Examiner, "CPAC schedule 2024: Who is speaking," February 21, 2024
  13. ↑ Newsweek, "CPAC 2023 Speakers, Schedule as Donald Trump Headlines D.C. Event," February 27, 2023
  14. ↑ Independent, "Who is speaking at CPAC and when?" March 3, 2023
  15. ↑ Newsweek, "CPAC 2022 Speakers, Schedule as Donald Trump Headlines Florida Event," February 24, 2022
  16. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Speakers
  17. ↑ Outset Magazine, "Here Are the Speakers for CPAC 2015," February 6, 2015
  18. ↑ Conservative Political Action Conference, "2017 CPAC Speakers," accessed February 24, 2017
  19. ↑ Mediaite, "Beck to Give Closing Speech at the 2016 Conservative Political Action Conference," February 12, 2016
  20. ↑ Breitbart, "Exclusive—Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina confirmed to speak at CPAC 2016," November 4, 2015
  21. ↑ Newsweek, "CPAC 2019 Full Schedule, Live Stream: How to Watch and When Key Speakers Will Appear," February 28, 2019
  22. ↑ Politico, "CPAC schedule 2018," February 22, 2018
  23. ↑ Newsweek, "CPAC 2020 Schedule, Live Stream: How to Watch Key Speakers At Annual Conservative Conference," February 26, 2020
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