Celebration: More than 2,000 supporters, business and community leaders, activists, politicians, and policy experts gathered for The Heritage Foundation’s two-day Leadership Summit and to celebrate Heritage’s 50th anniversary last week. 

• “On behalf of everyone at The Heritage Foundation, welcome to the New Conservative Movement. Welcome to the fight,” said Heritage President Dr. Kevin Roberts in a barnstorming speech to kick off the event. 
• Attendees heard from leading conservatives, including Govs. Ron DeSantis, Glenn Youngkin and Kim Reynolds, Sens. Josh Hawley, Mike Lee, Rick Scott, Tim Scott, and, JD Vance, congressmen, state attorneys general, the president of Hillsdale College, among many other luminaries. 

Read more about the event and watch the proceedings here. 

Follow highlights on Heritage’s Twitter page and Facebook page.  

Check out The Daily Signal’s complete coverage of the events at the summit here. 

Keynote: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis gave a rousing keynote speech in which he detailed the challenges he faced and how he overcame them to enact the boldest and most far-reaching conservative reforms of any state.  

• “We reject the culture of losing that has infected the Republican Party in recent years,” he said. “In Florida, we know that there is no substitute for victory.” 

Watch his speech here. 

Straight talk: The Fox News host, who got his start at Heritage, closed out the celebration at a packed gala event with the frankness that has won him legions of fans. 

• “The second you decide to tell the truth about something, you are filled with this power from somewhere else,” he said at one point. “The more you tell the truth, the stronger you become.” Lying makes people “weak and afraid.” 

Watch his remarks here.  

• “The Left started this culture war, and we’re going to finish it and we’re going to win it.” —Dr. Kevin Roberts 
• “Above all of the challenges that we face, I think the one that may be the most pressing the most dangerous is the challenge of the new radical Left and the new brand of Marxism that they have embraced.” —Sen. Josh Hawley 
• “When people trust the system, they are more likely to vote.” —Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton 
• “I’m just a citizen legislator ... here to fight for that which is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy.” —Montana State Rep. Kerri Seekins-Crowe 
• “We can choose political grievance or American exceptionalism.” —Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin. 
• “We need to defund woke and weaponized government. We must cut their budget.” —Rep. Dan Bishop 
• “It’s almost if (the Biden administration) created a blueprint on how to ruin America.” —Sen. Tim Scott 
• “This is what American foreign policy has become. We ignore the fact that we don’t manufacture enough of our own weapons and we send woke gender studies professors to Africa when the Chinese are building roads and bridges and hospitals.” —Sen. JD Vance. 

Consensus: Heritage released this 900-page document at the Leadership Summit. It provides a detailed blueprint for the next conservative administration, with contributions from hundreds of authors from dozens of conservative organizations. 

• “The task at hand,” says Project 2025 director Paul Dans, “is too great for any one conservative policy shop. It requires the collective action of our movement.” 

Read about the Mandate for Leadership and order your copy here. 

Disruptors: Also at the Leadership Summit, Heritage announced the latest round of Innovation Prize winners, given to groups with results-oriented, disruptive new ideas.  

• These latest winners are Communio, the National Association of Scholars, the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, Speech First, and the Victims of Communism Memorial Foundation. 

For more information on the most recent Innovation Prize awards, read here. 

• As Heritage turns 50, its president keeps his eyes on the time—Washington Examiner 
• Ron DeSantis' 2024 warning: 'The left is playing for keeps' as they target conservatives—Fox News 
• At 50, Heritage Foundation confronts the new right—New York Post 
• Heritage Foundation Makes Plans to Staff Next G.O.P. Administration—New York Times 
• What does 'conservative' mean? Heritage Foundation president on the right's shifting values—Yahoo News 
• Tim Scott tests out 2024 pitch to Heritage by calling for a 'new American sunrise'—MSN 
• Lee calls out Prince Harry over his remarks on democracy—Deseret News 
• J.D. Vance Assails the Ukrainian Government as the 'Most Corrupt' in Europe—Mediaite

The celebration ended with a grand fireworks display, and a closing thought: 

 

50 years old and more committed than ever to fight for our great American Republic. We’re so thankful for all the support we’ve received from countless Americans since 1973. Our fight for the everyday American is only just beginning! 

 

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