House Republicans will go on a retreat next week to plan for future electoral gains and hear voices from the past.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich will be there, according to the agenda obtained by Punchbowl News. Gingrich, who held the gavel House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy soon hopes to yield from 1995 to 1999, presided over the Republicans’ 54-seat pickup in 1994 to give them their first majority in the chamber in 40 years.
In an October meeting with current House Republicans, Gingrich said that it may be time to try a new version of his “Contract with America,” the agenda the GOP ran on in 1994. Showing a united front against “big government socialism” at all levels would be inherent to securing victory again, he told Republican lawmakers.
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Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state under then-President George W. Bush, will address the GOP via Zoom. She studied Russia and served during the 9/11 terrorist attacks and could offer insights on the newest geopolitical challenge in Ukraine.
The foreign policy bent continues with David Feith. An expert on Asia, he advised the Trump administration on China and Indo-Pacific policy. He was previously an op-ed writer for the Wall Street Journal about Asian affairs and was based in Hong Kong.
There will also be a major focus on issues on Republicans’ minds that weren’t on the agenda during the Bush or Gingrich years. Joe Lonsdale, a conservative voice in Big Tech and finance, is also on the docket. He’s a co-founder of software company Palantir Technologies and a partner at venture capitalist firm 8VC. He works on policy with the Texas-based Cicero Institute.
Another tech entrepreneur, Vivek Ramaswamy, will give an address likely touching on the intersection of the woke culture wars and the private sector. Last summer, he published Woke, Inc.: Inside Corporate America’s Social Justice Scam.
Several pollsters will give presentations, gearing up the group for the next six months of messaging before the midterm elections.
McCarthy’s task forces will try to formulate policies that are ready to implement if the GOP retakes control on Capitol Hill.
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Republicans are currently seven seats away from a majority in the House and are heavily favored in the midterm elections. As was the case with Gingrich under President Bill Clinton, Republicans also won the House during President Barack Obama’s first midterm election in 2010.
The retreat will begin Wednesday in Ponte Verde Beach, Florida. The Democrats had their retreat in Philadelphia last week.
