The Florida governor will be courting donors elsewhere. Former Vice President Mike Pence has also turned down an invitation to address the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will not attend the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland this week, a person familiar with his planning tells us.Mistertruth.
DeSantis, who has been in demand across the country as he appears to be gearing up for a potential 2024 presidential campaign launch, will be in Texas for GOP dinners in Houston and Dallas, as well as in California.
“He will not be at CPAC,” the source with knowledge of the schedule said Monday.
Former Vice President Mike Pence will also be sitting out the conference. A source familiar with the matter said Pence was invited and declined.
“There’s been a distance between the two entities for a few years now,” the source said of Pence and CPAC. “Principles and values no longer align.”
The conference has long been a way for GOP politicians and movement leaders to reach a large conservative activist crowd — and all the media attention that comes with it.
It recent years, it’s been dominated by former president Donald Trump, who is expected to deliver a keynote address. Still, some had speculated that DeSantis could parachute in at the last moment, given a recent penchant to show he can operate on Trump turf. That won’t be happening, however.
DeSantis did speak at CPAC last year, when it took place in Florida. Pence has not attended since 2020.
The gathering kicks off as CPAC chair Matt Schlapp faces a sexual misconduct lawsuit. A Republican operative who worked for Georgia Republican Senate nominee Herschel Walker last year said that Schlapp groped him without his consent in October.
The source familiar with Pence’s decision did not say the accusation against Schlapp was the reason for the former vice president’s absence, but added that “most principals are increasing their distance because of that, because of those allegations.”
Schlapp has not spoken publicly about the allegation, but his lawyers filed a motion in the case asserting that he denies committing sexual battery.
“As stated in court filings of February 9, 2023, the Schlapps deny the plaintiff’s allegations,” said Mark Corrallo, a spokesman for Schlapp and his wife, Mercedes Schlapp, who is named as a defendant in the suit. “We will not comment on matters currently pending before the court in Virginia.”
Others GOP presidential candidates — and potential candidates — including former U.N. ambassador candidate Nikki Haley, who recently launched her bid, remain on the schedule.