# Conservative Political Action Conference The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) is the flagship annual gathering of the American conservative movement, hosted by the [[American Conservative Union]] (ACU). Founded in 1974 — Ronald Reagan delivered the inaugural keynote — CPAC describes itself as "the largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world" and has long functioned as a bellwether for the state and direction of the American right. ## History and function CPAC began as a small meeting convened by the ACU and Young Americans for Freedom and grew into a multi-day event drawing activists, officials, media, and presidential hopefuls. Its straw poll of attendees is treated as an early barometer of the Republican presidential field. For decades the conference embodied the "fusionist" Reagan coalition of social conservatives, free-market advocates, and defense hawks. ## Trumpification Since 2017 CPAC has shifted sharply toward Donald Trump and away from traditional movement conservatism, becoming one of the clearest venues for the GOP's transformation into a Trump-centered, nationalist-populist party. The conference that once "didn't always love Trump" reoriented around him; by the 2020s its programming, straw polls, and headline speakers were dominated by [[Donald Trump]] and MAGA-aligned figures. The chairman of the ACU, [[Matt Schlapp]], has run the organization since June 2014 and is closely identified with this alignment. His predecessors were [[Al Cárdenas]] (2011–2014) and [[David Keene]] (1984–2011), who grew CPAC from a few hundred attendees to more than 10,000 and stepped down the day before Trump's February 2011 CPAC debut. By March 2026 the trend had reversed: the Grapevine, Texas conference drew a "modest crowd" with no Trump appearance (Mother Jones). ## International expansion Under the "CPAC International" banner the conference has been exported abroad — most notably [[CPAC Hungary]], headlined by [[Viktor Orbán]] and — as disclosed after his April 2026 defeat — financed by the Hungarian state, as well as editions in Brazil, Australia, Japan, and Mexico. These events have helped knit together a transnational network of right-populist and illiberal movements, using the CPAC brand to link American MAGA politics with nationalist leaders overseas. ## Controversies CPAC and the ACU have drawn scrutiny over governance and finances, a sexual-misconduct allegation against Schlapp (a civil suit dropped in March 2024 after a reported $480,000 payment; see [[Matt Schlapp]]), questions about foreign sponsorship and influence at its international events, and the loss of some mainstream corporate sponsors as the conference moved rightward. ## Connection to Tulsi Gabbard [[Tulsi Gabbard]] is listed among CPAC's affiliated figures, reflecting her absorption into the conservative-movement infrastructure after her 2022–2024 break with the Democratic Party — one of several MAGA-ecosystem venues (alongside Fox News, Rumble, and the Rockbridge donor world) through which her realignment ran. ## KB significance CPAC is a load-bearing node for mapping the conservative movement: it is simultaneously a barometer of the right's ideological center of gravity (its drift from Reaganite fusionism to Trumpist nationalism is unusually legible year over year) and an organizing mechanism that connects domestic MAGA politics to an international constellation of illiberal-populist parties and leaders. ## Related - [[American Conservative Union]] — host organization - [[Matt Schlapp]] — ACU chairman 2014–present - [[David Keene]] — ACU chairman 1984–2011 - [[Donald Trump]] — dominant figure since 2017 - [[Tulsi Gabbard]] — affiliated figure post-realignment