EXCLUSIVE – A number one conservative group that’s already a giant spender in Republican main politics is seeking to up its sport within the 2026 election cycle because it aligns with President Donald Trump and his political staff.
“Our purpose goes to be even greater and do extra,” Membership for Progress President David McIntosh emphasised in an unique interview with Fox Information Digital.
The Membership for Progress is a political advocacy group which pushes a fiscally conservative agenda, together with a deal with tax cuts and different financial points.Â
Its political arm, the Membership for Progress Motion tremendous PAC, has been a serious participant in GOP main showdowns.
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Then-former President Donald Trump, left, shakes arms with Membership for Progress President David McIntosh as Trump speaks on the group’s annual donor retreat at The Breakers in Palm Seashore, Florida, on March 1, 2024. (Membership For Progress)
Membership for Progress Motion says it and its affiliated tremendous PACs raised $163 million within the 2024 election cycle, and touts that it received 73% of the races the place it made political investments. The group says it goals to up the ante within the 2026 cycle, and it really works to strengthen the Republican majorities within the Home and Senate.
McIntosh mentioned that in relation to growing its investments this yr and subsequent yr, “loads of that is dependent upon the members. We’re depending on our donors to assist us fund these races.”
Nevertheless, he added, “we’ve obtained some superb, beneficiant individuals who help us in that.”
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“One of many key components,” McIntosh emphasised, “goes to be President Trump and his endorsement. That actually trumps every part else. So what we’d do is advocate to him and his political staff what candidates that we predict would help his agenda, the free market, restricted authorities conservatives that we might help collectively.”
McIntosh and the Membership have had an up-and-down relationship with Trump. They opposed Trump as he ran for the White Home in 2016 earlier than embracing him as an ally. Within the 2022 cycle, Trump and the Membership teamed up in some high-profile GOP primaries however clashed over flamable Senate nomination battles in Alabama, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Former Rep. David McIntosh, the president of the fiscally conservative group The Membership for Progress, is interviewed by Fox Information Digital on Jan. 16, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Fox Information – Paul Steinhauser)
Moreover, the Membership was on the outs with Trump because the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race obtained underway. Trump repeatedly criticized McIntosh and the Membership, referring to them as “The Membership for NO Progress,” and claimed they had been “an assemblage of political misfits, globalists, and losers.”
Nevertheless, Trump and McIntosh made peace a few yr in the past, with Trump saying in March 2024, as he was wrapping up the GOP presidential nomination, that they had been “again in love” after the protracted falling out.
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“I believe you’ll see Membership for Progress PACs work carefully with President Trump, his political staff,” McIntosh informed Fox Information. “We’re undoubtedly going to be working carefully along with his coverage staff to get the tax invoice by, loads of the laws that we each agree is actually vital for turning issues round within the nation.”
Membership officers say that they’re planning an eight-figure federal advocacy marketing campaign to help what they name the pro-growth, free-market initiatives proposed by the Trump administration. A high merchandise their marketing campaign will highlight is the push to broaden and completely codify the Trump tax cuts handed throughout his first time period within the White Home.
The group can also be advocating for federal college freedom laws, which might permit dad and mom “to make use of federal tax {dollars} to ship their college students to the general public, non-public, constitution, or homeschool that most closely fits their studying wants.”
Membership for Progress Motion final yr teamed up with allied teams to focus on and defeat 10 GOP incumbent state lawmakers in Texas who had opposed the so-called college selection laws. The group additionally spent massive bucks in Tennessee on the same mission, and this yr is constant its campaign in 5 different states the place college selection payments are being thought-about.
The Membership on Thursday kicks off its annual donor retreat for top-dollar contributors, which is held every year at an unique beachfront resort within the higher crust seaside neighborhood of Palm Seashore, Florida.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas speaks at a donor convention hosted by the conservative group the Membership for Progress on March 3, 2023 in Palm Seashore, Florida. (Fox Information )
Among the best-known names on the precise might be talking on the confab, as they mingle with big-pocketed donors.
Among the many politicians attending are Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Tim Scott of South Carolina (who’s the chair of the Nationwide Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s marketing campaign arm), Rick Scott of Florida and freshman lawmaker Bernie Moreno of Ohio.
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Among the many Home members attending are Home Speaker Mike Johnson and Reps. Byron Donalds, who’s transferring in the direction of a 2026 run for governor in Florida, and Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who can also be mulling a gubernatorial bid.
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida can also be attending, as is Vivek Ramaswamy, who earlier this week launched a 2026 marketing campaign for Ohio governor.
