This year's Conservative Political Action Conference reportedly will include addresses by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
CPAC, which begins Feb. 25 in Orlando, Florida, will mark the unofficial start of the 2024 presidential campaign, per the Washington Examiner on Friday. It also will be the first major conservative gathering since former President Donald Trump left office Jan. 20.
Trump has not said if he plans to vie for the Republican presidential nomination in '24. Whether or not he runs, the former president figures to be a dominating presence in GOP politics for the foreseeable future.
There was no word if Trump, living in Palm Beach, Fla., will make the short plane ride to attend CPAC.
Noem, in her first term as governor following eight years in the House of Representatives, and Pompeo, who this week joined conservative Washington, D.C., think tank Hudson Institute, have been mentioned as contenders for the '24 Republican nomination.
Other confirmed CPAC speakers include House Minority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La.; Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a caucus of House conservatives; Rep. Madison Cawthorn, R-N.C.; former Ambassador Richard Grenell, acting director of national intelligence under Trump; and Matthew Whitaker, who also briefly served as acting attorney general under Trump.
"This is nothing like 2008; it's a completely different situation," CPAC head Matt Schlapp said Friday. "I know folks are discouraged, but we're in so much better shape than we were [12] years ago."
CPAC has focused on Trump's agenda and the 2020 election in recent years. This year, Joe Biden's administration and policies should be a unifying factor.
Recent CPACs have been held in National Harbor, Maryland, just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C.
Florida was chosen for this year's gathering because the state's COVID-19 regulations are less severe.
Schlapp said he expected all tickets to CPAC to be sold out by the end of next week. He admitted adhering to public health guidelines "does limit the tickets you can sell and also limits the activities — there won't be events with people packed shoulder-to-shoulder."
Schlapp, whose wife Mercedes worked for then-president Trump, insisted CPAC was financially and organizationally sound. There had been speculation the organization was suffering after Trump's election loss and the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol by a mob protesting the election outcome.
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