The Western Conservative Summit is an annual conference of influential U.S. conservatives, held in

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

since 2010. It is organized by the Centennial Institute and

Colorado Christian University Colorado Christian University (CCU) is a private Christian university in Lakewood, Colorado. CCU was founded by Clifton Fowler in 1914 as the Denver Bible Institute. History CCU's heritage dates back to the formation of Denver Bible Institute in ...

. It has grown each year, and now includes a Young Conservatives Leadership Conference, which is led by radio host Hugh Hewitt.

Past events

2011

In 2011,

Herman Cain Herman Cain (December 13, 1945July 30, 2020) was an American businessman and Tea Party movement activist within the Republican Party. Born in Memphis, Tennessee, Cain grew up in Georgia and graduated from Morehouse College with a bachelor's d ...

was the winner of the presidential nomination straw poll. Syndicated columnist and talk show host

Dennis Prager Dennis Mark Prager (; born August 2, 1948) is an American conservative radio talk show host and writer. He is the host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show ''The Dennis Prager Show''. In 2009, he co-founded PragerU, which creates five-m ...

was among the speakers.

2012

In 2012, speakers included

Glenn Beck Glenn Lee Beck (born February 10, 1964) is an American conservative political commentator, radio host, entrepreneur, and television producer. He is the CEO, founder, and owner of Mercury Radio Arts, the parent company of his television and rad ...

and

Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...

Governor

Jan Brewer Janice Kay Brewer (''née'' Drinkwine, formerly Warren; born September 26, 1944) is an American politician and author who was the 22nd governor of Arizona from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Republican Party, Brewer is the fourth woman (and was ...

. Over 1,500 people attended.

2013

The 2013 Western Conservative Summit was themed "Freedom's New Day", and took place July 26–28.

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

Governor Scott Walker was the

keynote speaker A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes a main underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address. The keynote establishes the framework fo ...

, calling for optimism within the Republican Party and increased activity in reaching voters. Also among the speakers were

Mia Love Mia, MIA, or M.I.A. may refer to: Music Artists * M.I.A. (rapper) (born 1975), English rapper and singer * M.I.A. (band), 1980s punk rock band from Orange County, California * MIA., a German rock/pop band formed in 1997 * Mia (singer) (born 1983 ...

, mayor of

Saratoga Springs, Utah Saratoga Springs is a city in Utah County, Utah, United States. The elevation is 4,505 feet. It is part of the Provo–Orem, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city is a relatively new development along the northwestern shores of Utah ...

; former U.S. Senator Bill Armstrong, president of

;

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

Senator

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward "Ted" Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States Senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz served as Solicitor General of Texas from ...

; former

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the Osage ...

Governor

Mike Huckabee Michael Dale Huckabee (born August 24, 1955) is an American politician, Baptist minister, and political commentator who served as the 44th governor of Arkansas from 1996 to 2007. He was a candidate for the Republican Party presidential nomina ...

; Jonah Goldberg, a conservative columnist and author; and former

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Representative Representative may refer to: Politics *Representative democracy, type of democracy in which elected officials represent a group of people *House of Representatives, legislative body in various countries or sub-national entities *Legislator, someon ...

Allen West. About 2,000 people attended the four-day summit. Cruz won a straw poll for the Republican presidential nominee, with 225 votes (45% of votes cast). Cruz' speech included a call to "abolish" the

Internal Revenue Service The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is the revenue service for the United States federal government, which is responsible for collecting U.S. federal taxes and administering the Internal Revenue Code, the main body of the federal statutory ta ...

, and urged attendees to explain the Republican Party's message more clearly in the future.

2014

The 2014 Western Conservative summit was themed "America at its Best" and took place in Denver Colorado July 18–20. The 666 voters at the conference favored Ben Carson (22%),

(13%) and

Sarah Palin Sarah Louise Palin (; Heath; born February 11, 1964) is an American politician, commentator, author, and reality television personality who served as the ninth governor of Alaska from 2006 until her resignation in 2009. She was the 2008 R ...

(12%) in a

straw poll A straw poll, straw vote, or straw ballot is an ad hoc or unofficial vote. It is used to show the popular opinion on a certain matter, and can be used to help politicians know the majority opinion and help them decide what to say in order to gain ...

for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

2015

The theme of the 2015 Western Conservative Summit is "Your Story: Freedom Alive". The summit drew criticism when it barred the participation of the Colorado Log Cabin Republicans, a Republican organization that advocates for equal rights for gays and lesbians. Centennial Institute head John Andrews explained that their "worldview and policy agenda are fundamentally at odds with what Colorado Christian University stands for" and that the summit additionally has a policy of not allowing vendors who advocate for higher taxes or about

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

2021

In 2021, the summit began using the

approval voting Approval voting is an electoral system in which voters can select many candidates instead of selecting only one candidate. Description Approval voting ballots show a list of the options of candidates running. Approval voting lets each voter i ...

method for their polls. Ron DeSantis won with 74% approval, followed by

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

with 71%, Ted Cruz with 43%,

Mike Pompeo Michael Richard Pompeo (; born December 30, 1963) is an American politician, diplomat, and businessman who served under President Donald Trump as director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from 2017 to 2018 and as the 70th United State ...

with 39%, and Tim Scott with 36%.

2022

Ron DeSantis won a second year in a row with 71.01%, followed by Trump with 67.68%, Cruz with 28.73%, and Ben Carson with 24.15%.

2023

DeSantis won the approval polling for a third year with 66.9%, followed by Trump with 63.4%, Larry Elder with 44.9%, Tim Scott with 35.3%, and Vivek Ramaswamy with 24.2%. Democratic presidential candidate

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (born January 17, 1954) is an American environmental lawyer and author known for promoting anti-vaccine propaganda and conspiracy theories. Kennedy is a son of U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy and a nephew of President ...

also received 14.4% approval, while Joe Biden received less than 1%. Trump, however, won a

first-past-the-post In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

poll with 40.3%, followed by DeSantis with 35.8%, Elder with 7.7%, and Scott with 5.8%. 73% of those polled named election integrity and religious freedom as their top policy concerns, followed by education/parental rights at 72%, immigration/border security at 71%, and gun rights at 71%.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Western Conservative Summit Official Homepage
Political conferences Conservatism in the United States