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CPAC is proud to announce that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is a confirmed speaker for CPAC USA 2026 in Grapevine, Texas, March 25-28. Paxton is the 51st Attorney General of Texas, serving his third term in the role. His time in office has featured action to combat human trafficking, fighting federal overreach, and upholding border security, school rights, religious freedom. He is currently the CPAC-endorsed Republican nominee in the race for U.S. Senate in Texas. Paxton has spoken previously at CPAC on border security, big tech accountability, and the work of President Donald Trump to advance freedom. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear Ken Paxton at CPAC USA 2026!  Reserve your tickets today here .

CPAC is proud to announce that Matt Gaetz is a confirmed speaker for CPAC USA 2026 in Grapevine, Texas, March 25-28. In January 2025, he launched a nightly political talk show, The Matt Gaetz Show , on the One America News Network (OANN), where he provides commentary on national policy and current events. Matt Gaetz served as a U.S. Representative for Florida’s 1st district from 2017 to 2024, with an impressive 92% CPAC rating, holding seats on the House Judiciary, Armed Services, and Budget Committees. Gaetz participated in the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government and held various subcommittee assignments related to Crime and Federal Government Surveillance. His prior political experience includes six years in the Florida House of Representatives (2010–2016), where he chaired the Finance and Tax Committee. Gaetz has appeared at CPAC previously, advocating for the scaling back of wasteful federal agencies that persecute Americans, national voter ID implementation, and greater Congressional accountability. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear Matt Gaetz at CPAC USA 2026!  Reserve your tickets today here .

CPAC is proud to announce that Erika Donalds is a confirmed speaker for CPAC USA 2026 in Grapevine, Texas, March 25-28. Erika Donalds is CEO of Education Freedom Foundation and Chair of Education Opportunity at the America First Policy Institute and an expert on education policy and school choice. She is the founder and chairwoman of immersive edtech company OptimaEd and has founded six classical charter schools. Donalds served as a U.S. Representative from Florida's 19th congressional district from 2023 to 2025 and previously in the Florida House of Representatives. She is a seasoned business executive who spent 20 years in the financial services industry, serving as Chief Financial Officer, Chief Compliance Officer, and Managing Partner at a multi-billion-dollar investment management firm. Donalds has also served as an elected school board member and university trustee. Donalds has appeared at CPAC before advocating for education reform, school choice expansion, and bringing accountability and innovation back to America's schools. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear Erika Donalds at CPAC USA 2026!  Reserve your tickets today here .

The right to vote is the cornerstone of American democracy and sovereignty. With confidence in the security of America's elections at an all-time low, it is pertinent now more than ever to strengthen election integrity. The U.S. Senate must pass the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) America Act to address this crisis and restore faith in American democracy. The SAVE America Act will require all voters to provide proof of U.S. citizenship to vote in all U.S. elections, closing a dangerous loophole that undermines public trust by creating clearer, more uniform rules for federal voter registration across states, ending universal mail-in voting, and ensuring greater transparency from election officials. The majority of Americans question election integrity, with the Public Affairs Council 2024-2025 polling data reporting that only 37% of Americans believe elections are "honest and open." This is not voter suppression, but common-sense legislation requiring basic identification to vote, the identification Americans routinely provide for everyday activities like boarding a plane or opening a bank account. Federal law already makes it unlawful for non-citizens to vote in elections, underscoring a simple principle: citizenship should be a prerequisite for participating in U.S. elections. The question, then, is not whether citizenship should be required, but whether the voter registration process reliably verifies eligibility in a way that is transparent, consistent, and worthy of public trust. The SAVE America Act addresses that gap by requiring documentary proof of U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in federal elections, building verification into the front end of the process rather than relying on after-the-fact enforcement. CPAC urges the U.S. Senate to vote to pass the SAVE America Act to strengthen election integrity and restore public confidence by requiring proof of citizenship to vote, ending universal mail-in voting, and ensuring greater transparency from election officials.

CPAC is proud to announce that Xaviaer DuRousseau is a confirmed speaker for CPAC USA 2026 in Grapevine, Texas, March 25-28. Xaviaer DuRousseau is a PragerU media personality and Los Angeles-based Gen Z cultural and political commentator. He draws from his early life experience as a liberal leftist to get the freedom message out and change hearts and minds. He spent many years as a BLM activist before becoming an outspoken conservative Republican, and now uses social media to educate viewers on conservatism, politics, cultural debates, standing with Israel, and combating propaganda.  Xaviaer attended the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. In 2022, Xaviaer became the first Black and the youngest member in Alameda County Republican Party history. He is currently a member of the Republican National Committee's Youth Advisory Council, and a frequent contributor to FOX News, FOX Business, and Newsmax. Xaviaer accumulated over 200,000,000 views in 2023 and was featured across dozens of major media networks. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear Xaviaer DuRousseau at CPAC USA 2026!  Reserve your tickets today here .

CPAC is proud to announce that John Coale is a confirmed speaker for CPAC USA 2026 in Grapevine, Texas, March 25-28. John Coale serves as the United States Special Envoy to Belarus, nominated by President Donald Trump in November 2025 after successfully negotiating the release of approximately 100 political prisoners from the country. A veteran Washington attorney who earned the nickname "Master of Disaster" for representing victims of major catastrophes, including the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster and serving as principal negotiator for the landmark Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement that secured $10 billion annually from the five largest tobacco companies, Coale has had a distinctive career spanning over five decades of high-profile litigation and political involvement. Previously serving as deputy special envoy to Ukraine since March 2025 and as a former personal lawyer to President Trump, Coale has demonstrated his diplomatic skills through successful prisoner release negotiations with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, helping secure freedom for dozens of opposition figures, journalists, and protesters. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear John Coale at CPAC USA 2026!  Reserve your tickets today here .

For more than a century, the Maude family has worked the same stretch of ranchland in South Dakota. Since the early 1900s, five generations have poured their sweat and sacrifice into building a cattle and hog operation near Caputa. So when a simple fence line disagreement with the U.S. Forest Service arose over roughly 25 acres of adjacent Buffalo Gap National Grasslands, it should have been handled as a routine civil boundary dispute. Instead, under the Biden administration, it escalated into federal felony charges for “theft of government property.” In June 2024, Charles and Heather Maude were separately indicted for allegedly cultivating and grazing land their family had managed for decades behind a fence dating back to the 1940s or 1950s. What had long been treated as an understood boundary suddenly became the basis for criminal prosecution. The Maudes faced up to 10 years in prison, staggering fines, and the potential loss of their ranch. For 16 months, this family lived under the crushing weight of a federal case that threatened their home, their livelihood, and their children’s future. This case was about far more than 25 acres. It exposed a dangerous trend: using federal power to turn civil disputes into criminal charges. Instead of working with ranchers who help feed the country, the Biden administration treated them like criminals. Regulation became weaponized. Enforcement replaced common sense. Families who produce America’s food were forced to defend themselves against the very government meant to serve them. In April 2025, that course was corrected. The Trump administration’s Department of Justice dropped all charges against the Maudes, clearing them of wrongdoing. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins rightly called the prosecution politically motivated and took steps to end what she described as “regulation by prosecution.” The Maude family was finally free to return to their ranch without the shadow of federal prison hanging over them. That commitment was reinforced in February 2026 with the launch of the Farmer and Rancher Freedom Framework,  a comprehensive effort to protect producers from politically driven enforcement, defend land and property rights, eliminate burdensome regulations, and restore partnership between government and agriculture. This is exactly why the CPAC Ranchers Coalition stands firmly in support of the Maude family. Independent ranchers are the backbone of rural America. Their property rights are not negotiable. Civil disputes should never be weaponized into criminal threats. When the government overreach targets family farms, we will speak up. When ranchers are forced to fight alone, we will stand with them. The Maudes’ 16-month nightmare is over, but the mission continues. America’s ranchers deserve protection, not prosecution. And CPAC’s Ranchers Coalition will continue fighting to ensure no family operation faces this kind of government overreach again.

America’s strategic competition with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is no longer an abstract debate about tariffs or trade deficits; it’s about whether we can produce the advanced ships, fighter jets, precision-guided missiles, hypersonics, and next-gen batteries that keep our military dominant and our nation secure. Without reliable access to critical minerals like rare earth minerals for magnets in missile guidance or gallium for radar systems, we risk watching our defense industrial base grind to a halt while adversaries hold the keys. That stark reality hit hard at the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on February 24, 2026. The Chairman warned that China’s dominance over critical mineral supply chains represents one of America’s greatest strategic vulnerabilities. The United States imports more than 70% of its rare earth elements and over 60% of its antimony–essentials for everything from F-35 engines to drone tech and advanced electronics–directly from China. When a communist regime controls the raw materials of modern warfare and innovation, it gains leverage over markets and influence over liberties.  The hearing identified urgent bipartisan consensus and acknowledgement that the United States led global critical mineral production through the 1980s before offshoring capacity in pursuit of short-term cost savings. That decision hollowed out the domestic industry and allowed China to consolidate control. Today, the country produces roughly 95% of the world’s heavy rare earth elements. The use of the Department of Defense’s equity investments under the Defense Production Act (DPA) raises concerns about the legal authority, pricing mechanisms, and fairness to other domestic producers. Defending freedom requires not only strength but accountability. If America is to rebuild its industrial base, it must be transparent with the American people. Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy Michael Cadenazzi framed the situation plainly: a Chinese export cutoff would have been debilitating to US defense manufacturing. The National Defense Stockpile could have provided only a temporary buffer before a production crunch affected weapon systems. He laid out a clear four-pillar strategy: Reshoring domestic production through the DPA and industrial base fund, Strengthening supply chains with trusted allies, Investing in research and development for substitutes and recycling, and Modernizing the National Defense Stockpile. In just 14 months, the Department has invested nearly $1 billion in critical minerals projects and is leveraging an additional $5 billion appropriated from Congress. Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Resilience Jeffrey Frankston emphasized that this whole-of-government approach recognizes that confronting authoritarian leverage requires sustained, coordinated action. Debate zeroed in on tools like DPA equity investments and price floors (e.g., the MP Materials deal and its $110/kg price floor). Cadenazzi championed them as smart ways to crowd in private capital, send a long-term demand signal, and counter China’s practice of undercutting Western producers through opaque pricing and disregard for environmental and labor standards. Committee members pressed for clearer legislative authority, transparent pricing, and fairness to ensure these efforts remain legally sound and do not distort markets. The CPAC Defeating Communism Coalition is focused on exposing and dismantling communist and authoritarian ideologies that threaten liberty and distort truth. China’s dominance of critical minerals is not merely an economic issue; it is a strategic weapon wielded by a regime that rejects democratic values and self-governance. By educating the public about supply chain vulnerabilities, demanding transparency in federal action, promoting decisive industrial policy grounded in constitutional authority, and uniting policymakers across party lines, we advance the cause of freedom. Rebuilding America’s critical mineral independence isn’t optional; it’s essential to ensuring that no authoritarian power can hold hostage the tools of our national defense or the future of the free world.

CPAC’s Center for Combating Human Trafficking recently convened with North Carolina legislators, law enforcement officers, and conservative advocates over this past Lincoln Day to strengthen the coalition against modern-day slavery and leadership from Republicans across the state in protecting the freedom of others.    This meeting underscored a commitment to survivor-centered initiatives designed to not only identify and dismantle trafficking networks but also provide comprehensive support to those exploited by these criminal enterprises. These policy experts and elected officials aimed to ensure that North Carolina remains a national leader in the protection of the vulnerable and the aggressive prosecution of those who profit from human exploitation. Ending modern-day slavery requires action – not rhetoric. CPAC’s Center for Combating Human Trafficking is proud to stand with conservative champions in the North Carolina legislature and grassroots leaders in the Tar Heel State as we advance policies that support survivors by holding traffickers accountable for the crimes they commit.   The Survivors Justice Act represents significant progress in the approach to human trafficking by addressing the complex issue of forced criminality. This legislation allows courts to consider victimization as a mitigating factor during sentencing and provides a critical pathway for resentencing individuals who were coerced into illegal acts by their traffickers. By prioritizing these restorative measures, the act ensures that survivors are treated as victims rather than criminals, helping them overcome the systemic barriers that often follow a criminal record. The Trafficking Survivors Relief Act, signed by President Donald Trump in February, makes similar progress on the federal level. At the same time, it is important to reinforce that progress at the state level.   This shift toward justice-centered policy marks a critical step in empowering survivors to reclaim their lives and holding traffickers accountable for the full scope of their crimes. CPAC looks forward to more states adopting similar legislation in efforts to end modern-day slavery.

CPAC is proud to announce that the host of ‘The Benny Show’ Podcast, Benny Johnson, is a confirmed speaker for CPAC USA 2026 in Grapevine, Texas, March 25-28. Benny Johnson is a frequent political commentator and internationally recognized voice in conservative digital media. A fierce advocate for conservative values, Johnson has played a vital role in engaging the youth in conservative politics. Johnson's political experience ranges from hosting at Newsmax and acting as the Editor for TheBlaze to becoming the Digital Director of National Review. His work has helped energize a new generation of conservatives and redefine how political ideas are shared online. At CPAC in DC 2025, Johnson celebrated the major electoral victories of President Trump and conservatives alike and how the America First vision can be made into lasting legislation that improves the lives of all Americans. This is an address you will not want to miss! Don’t miss the opportunity to hear Benny Johnson at CPAC USA 2026!  Reserve your tickets today here .

CPAC is proud to announce that Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-TX) is a confirmed speaker for CPAC USA 2026 in Grapevine, Texas, March 25-28. Rep. Ronny Jackson is a member of the U.S. House of Representatives for Texas's 13th congressional district with an impressive 96% CPAC Conservative Rating. Rep. Jackson currently serves as the Chairman of the Intelligence and Special Operations Subcommittee, a role central to the oversight of America's military forces. A retired U.S. Navy Rear Admiral and former Physician to the President under President Bush, Jackson has transitioned his military and executive experience into a legislative career focused on defense modernization and national security. Rep. Jackson has appeared at CPAC before, where he underscored the need for increased global security for countering state sponsors of terrorism, underpining his vocal support for restoring freedom to Iran, and standing against the repressive regime. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear Ronny Jackson at CPAC USA 2026!  Reserve your tickets today here .

CPAC is proud to announce that Ben Ferguson is a confirmed speaker for CPAC USA 2026 in Grapevine, Texas, March 25-28. Ben Ferguson is a leading conservative political commentator and host of The Ben Ferguson Podcast , who co-hosts the popular Verdict with Ted Cruz podcast alongside Senator Ted Cruz, where they break down the most important political news stories and provide insider perspectives on Washington politics. He also launched The 47 Morning Update in January 2025, a daily podcast spotlighting the Trump administration's policies and agenda, and hosts the nationally syndicated weekend program The Ben Ferguson Show , which airs on nearly 180 stations nationwide. Appearing at last year's CPAC in DC 2025, Ferguson commented on the weaponization of Biden's Justice Department and how conservatives can stand up to Big Tech and fight for free speech. Don’t miss the opportunity to hear Ben Ferguson at CPAC USA 2026!