Sen. Ted Cruz dazzled the crowd, a surging Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker delivered the keynote and Donald Trump was not yet a candidate for president when the Faith and Freedom Coalition held its annual Road to Majority conference in 2015.
A year later, Trump addressed the audience having just locked in the Republican Party’s nomination for president.
The country’s evangelicals will meet once again this weekend in Washington, DC, for the conference, and with the GOP field somewhat solidified, the two-day gathering marks the first time the biggest names in the race will appear on the same stage as the summer audition season kicks into gear. As Trump proved in 2015, much can change between Friday’s opening prayer and when voters begin to make their choices in January.
But entering the weekend, Trump remains firmly the front-runner – a fact that is apparent not only in recent polls but in the conference’s programming itself. Trump, making his first in-person appearance at a cattle call since announcing his 2024 bid, will serve as the keynote speaker for the event’s closing gala. The rest of the field – from top rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis to candidates with longer odds like former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson – will fight for attention from the morning crowd as they take turns at the mic before the conference breaks for lunch.
Trump allies, too, will fill much of the time in between. Last year’s losing Arizona gubernatorial nominee Kari Lake, conservative commentators Nick Adams and Judge Jeanine Pirro, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham are all scheduled to speak. The Trump-heavy lineup underscores the challenges for other candidates to break out in a party still dominated by the former president.
“Donald Trump is arguably the strongest front-runner and in the strongest position overall of anyone in my…
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