Republicans Confronted With Empty Seats at CPAC

This year's Conservative Political Action Conference reportedly has a smaller room and turnout when compared with past years.

CPAC started Wednesday and continues until Saturday in Washington, D.C., featuring speakers including former President Donald Trump, Representatives Elise Stefanki and Jim Jordan, Senator J.D. Vance, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, former Representative Tulsi Gabbard, MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell and more.

Representative Byron Donalds, Senator Tommy Tuberville and Lara Trump—Trump's daughter-in-law and his pick for co-chair of the Republican National Committee—spoke on Thursday. Some speakers are purportedly being considered by Trump as a vice presidential candidate.

Images and videos shared Thursday on X, formerly Twitter, show dozens of empty seats during one speech.

"Former British Prime Minister Liz Truss walks on stage at CPAC to polite applause and dozens of empty seats," wrote The Guardian's Washington bureau chief David Smith, accompanied by a photo of the sparse audience.

"Thinner crowd—and fewer stalls—at this year's CPAC, compared to last year," wrote National Journal reporter Zac Weisz. "They also cut off part of the main conference room, so there's fewer seats. It's still far from full."

The account Republicans For Trump sarcastically referred to a "packed house" as a camera swung around the room, simply saying, "Yikes."

Newsweek reached out to CPAC via email for comment.

American Conservative Union Chairman Matt Matt Schlapp said Wednesday that "left-wing" journalists would not be allowed entry into the event.

"If you look at their feeds, 100 percent of their stories are 'let's get [Republicans and conservatives],'" Schlapp told Steve Bannon on Bannon's War Room podcast. "Donald Trump...deals with it more than anyone. This tactic they're using against Trump is intergalactic, but they're using similar tactics against all of us."

"So, CPAC has a new rule: If you're a propagandist, you can buy a ticket, like everyone else. But you're not in the media, and we're not going to credential you by saying you're in the media," he continued.

Lara Trump spoke to an energized crowd when she took the stage in the afternoon. She got cheers from the crowd when she spoke about her father-in-law winning the presidential election and her run to become head of the Republican National Committee, a move he has endorsed.

However, even the Trump family member wasn't able to fill every seat at the event and cameras showed empty seats in the room.

CPAC started in 1974 and has been an annual staple of the conservative movement. Billed as a place for conservatives, and especially young conservatives, to gather, this year has faced some pushback.

Prominent conservatives have opted to not attend CPAC this year and instead join a summit that's counter-programming CPAC. The Principles First summit, set to take place this weekend, features several of Trump's critics, including former Representative Adam Kinzinger, former Governor Asa Hutchinson and former Trump White House aide Cassidy Hutchinson.

"I used to go to CPAC all the time," Heath Mayo, founder of Principles First, told Spectrum News. "When I was in college, it was still a good place where libertarians, social conservatives, economic conservatives would get together and really hash out the debates around economic policy or foreign policy...now it is just a circus."

Danielle Butcher Franz, a conservative whose focus is on climate change, attended CPAC in the past but posted on X that she doesn't think she knows a single person going this year. She added that it might be "hard to imagine" now that CPAC was once "the place to meet other young conservatives and launch your career."