(ReclaimingAmerica.net) – Several top Republican contenders for the 2024 Presidential election will be taking the stage at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference, with the chair of the Conference, Mike Schlapp saying he welcomed the “competition” among speakers.
The top speakers will include former President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Florida Senator Rick Scott, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, to name a few.
The conference will also continue its tradition of holding a straw poll where attendees are asked to assess the President’s performance, share their views on the administration’s policies, and make predictions on who would win the next Presidential election.
Highlighting the importance of the Presidential race, Schlapp shared his beliefs that it’s great that CPACs event has “some competition,” adding that the Conference “has always been a place where people who want to lead this movement can see how well they fire up the crowd,” saying he is “sure that will happen again.”
But Schlapp refused to give his take on the straw poll’s outcome, especially as it related to who would be the GOP’s 2024 Presidential nominee, instead highlighting that the poll was a “fair poll” and extolling the speakers’ strengths.
“Trump is like an incumbent. He is beloved by people, but people also respect great governors; leading that way is Ron DeSantis,” Schlapp said. “They love the senators that always stand up and do the right thing, like Ted Cruz, he’ll be at CPAC again, and I think Josh Hawley is going to be at CPAC,” he said.
He also added that given how far away the Presidential election was, it would be difficult to predict who would be the GOP nominee, but it would be “interesting speculation,” adding that since the “CPAC audience and those who are going to vote in the straw poll are very similar to the types of people who are going to vote in a primary,” their predictions would be valuable.
Schlapp then highlighted that the most significant impact of the CPAC straw poll was ascertaining “in a wide-open contest, who can strike a chord.”
Although he revealed that he did not believe the next Presidential GOP primary would be “wide-open” given “somebody [is] running who is essentially an incumbent,” statements that refer to Trump’s anticipated re-election bid.
