The Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in 2024 suffered low attendance for many of its sessions amid a complete embrace of former President Donald Trump.
CPAC, first held in 1974, is an annual gathering of conservatives normally held at the Gaylord National Harbor Convention Center near Washington, D.C. to discuss conservative ideas.
This year, with a slate of speakers uniformly supportive of former President Donald Trump, many of the conference’s sessions had vacant seats, with attendees and commentators suggesting that the it’s uniformity in support of Trump was the reason.
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“I was expecting it to be larger than previous conferences that I’ve been to, which aren’t necessarily as Big Tent,” Jacob Swartz — a representative of the Ludwig von Mises Institute, an economic think tank — told the DCNF. Swartz reasoned that was because the conference was “more or less all about Trump.”
The conference’s organizer, American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Schlapp, endorsed Trump’s candidacy in January.
“A lot of it was … because of the fractured conservative movement and the fact that a lot of people just can’t get behind Trump, and … you know, it was the Trump conference this year, and I think that kind of alienated a lot of people from coming, especially since it is an election year and he is poised to be the nominee,” Marya Dunning, an attendee from Virginia, told the DCNF.
The main hall was only filled to capacity ahead of Trump’s speech to the conference, but did not reach capacity even during speeches by the two foreign heads of state: President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, on Thursday, and President Javier Milei of Argentina on Saturday.
“I think pretty much everybody can see that. He wasn’t just the centerpiece. He wasn’t just the featured guest. He was the conference, more or less,” Swartz said.
Other speakers were Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump, Republican senatorial candidate Kari Lake of Arizona, CEO of MyPillow, Inc. Mike Lindell, Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and former White House advisor Stephen Bannon, among others.
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“I understand the argument some would [make] that CPAC is supposed to be more big tent,” Swartz added. “If you like, you look back at CPAC, even 10 years ago, for example. There were more people.”
Many attendees dressed themselves in Trump-themed garbs. A group of five guests from Texas wore shirts and carried signs with each of the letters of Trump’s surname, while another wore a suit with a design of bricks to resemble a border wall, which has been among Trump’s signature campaign promises.
“Middling attendance so far at CPAC but still a strong showing of Trump die-hards,” journalist Nick Robertson wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“MAGA certainly exacerbated the problems [CPAC] already had,” Calvin Freiburger, a conservative writer, wrote on X.
Several of the conference’s speakers emphasized their support of Trump to the DCNF.
“I’m a huge supporter of him. I have been right from the very start. I’ve never wavered in that view. And I think the world would be a better place if he’s back in the White House,” Nigel Farage, a British politician and former leader of the Brexit Party, told the DCNF on Thursday, ahead of his address to the conference.
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“I prefer Trump,” Bukele told the DCNF.
“We welcome you into the America First movement with open arms,” Lake said in her address shortly before Trump took the floor. “Let’s go, Trump 2024!”
CPAC conducted a straw poll from attendees for their preference for Trump’s running mate, which was jointly won by Republican Gov. Kristi Noem of South Dakota and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, both of whom spoke at the conference.
“It feels like I’m the only one here not running for [Trump’s] vice president,” Tom Fitton, president of Judicial Watch, said in his speech.
CPAC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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