By Nathan Layne
GRAPEVINE, Texas, March 26 (Reuters) - The chairman of the Conservative Political Action Conference said he plans to use its annual gathering this week to rein in Republican infighting, warning that divisions could hurt the party in November's midterm elections.
Kicking off on Thursday just outside Dallas, the CPAC conference comes at a moment of growing voter unease over U.S. strikes on Iran, a spike in gas prices tied to the conflict, and broader inflationary pressures - all exacerbating
cracks within President Donald Trump's Make America Great Again movement.
Some of the biggest voices in MAGA have broken with Trump over the Iran conflict, saying it is a break from his 2024 campaign promise to end the U.S. involvement in "forever wars," as well as his handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files.
"If some of the luminaries of MAGA are all at each other's throats in a kind of continued disunity, I think that could be devastating in the midterm elections," CPAC chairman Matt Schlapp told Reuters in an interview.
"The question is: can we pull together to get the right guys elected and hold on to the majorities? That's one of the intents of this conference."
Republicans will be defending slim majorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives in November, a challenge compounded by the historical pattern of the president's party underperforming in midterms.
Sometimes referred to as the "Woodstock for conservatives," CPAC has for decades been a central gathering for Republican politicians and activists and presidential hopefuls. Trump's rise in 2016 reshaped the event, however, shifting its tone and purpose toward a more populist, personality-driven platform.
Trump is not scheduled to attend this year's CPAC, which runs through Saturday, skipping it for the first time in a decade, as he grapples with the fallout of a war the U.S. and Israel launched against Iran nearly four weeks ago.
Trump's approval rating fell in recent days to 36%, its lowest point since he returned to the White House, hit by a surge in fuel prices and widespread disapproval of the Iran war, a four-day Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday found.
TRUMP ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS TO ATTEND
This year's speaker lineup is headlined by several administration figures, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and Brendan Carr, who oversees the Federal Communications Commission.
Other speakers include Texas Senator Ted Cruz, widely viewed as a potential 2028 presidential contender; former Trump adviser and podcaster Steve Bannon; and online influencer Nick Shirley, whose cellphone videos in December purporting to expose fraud at Minnesota day care centers thrust him into the spotlight.
Poland’s nationalist president, Karol Nawrocki, and Brazilian Senator Flavio Bolsonaro - who is challenging President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in this year's election - are also scheduled to speak, highlighting CPAC’s continued push to expand globally.
This year's theme, “action over words,” reflects a concerted effort by CPAC to give a platform to speakers taking concrete steps to elect Republicans or advance conservative causes, rather than simply offering commentary online, Schlapp said.
Missing from the list of speakers at CPAC is anyone likely to criticize Trump outright, underscoring how tightly the party remains under Trump's sway, said John K. White, professor emeritus at The Catholic University of America.
"It seems to me that they are engaged in a kind of politics of comfort," White said. "They're isolating themselves in a way that prevents the party, in a lot of ways, from moving forward to being a majority party in the country."
CPAC will hold a straw poll for the 2028 presidential race on Saturday. Last year in Oxon Hill, Maryland, Vance led with 61% of the vote, followed by Bannon at 12% and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at 7%. Secretary of State Marco Rubio captured just 3%, but has risen in prominence in Trump's second term.
(Reporting by Nathan Layne in Grapevine, Texas; Editing by Ross Colvin and Alistair Bell)
