5 things to watch for at this year’s CPAC

The Lone Star State, home to one of this year’s marquee Senate contests, will play host to a mix of Republican candidate hopefuls, influencers and activists, and Trump administration officials at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) beginning on Wednesday.

The gathering, which has historically served as a temperature check for the Republican Party, has been dubbed “TPAC” in recent years, as President Trump has reigned supreme at the event since his 2016 election victory.

Trump for the first time in a decade, however, is reportedly skipping the conference, which comes at a politically fraught time amid the war in Iran and a quickly approaching midterm season.

These tensions, as well as the burgeoning 2028 GOP shadow race to succeed Trump, are expected to dominate the multiday event hosted in Grapevine, Texas, where one of this election cycle’s messiest GOP races will take center stage.

Here are five things to watch at this year’s conference: 

Paxton, Cornyn battle on display

The Texas Senate Republican primary runoff between state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Sen. John Cornyn will loom large over CPAC simply given the location of this year’s gathering in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

Paxton is slated to speak at Friday’s Ronald Reagan Dinner, while Cornyn is not currently scheduled to make an appearance at the conference.

CPAC sought to put pressure on Cornyn to deliver remarks at the event, writing a post on the social media platform X last week, “Paxton has accepted the invite to speak at CPAC, Cornyn still has not. Let’s get it scheduled.” 

The conservative organization also made sure to note that Paxton boasts a 100 percent “Lifetime CPAC score,” while Cornyn has an 85 percent lifetime score.

The Cornyn campaign has rebuffed this pressure from CPAC. In a social media post earlier this month directed toward CPAC Chair Matt Schlapp, the incumbent’s campaign spokesperson Matt Mackowiak wrote, “You’ve endorsed Paxton, Matt.” 

Trump signaled earlier this year that he would endorse either Paxton or Cornyn, as Republicans sound the alarm over........

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