Former President Trump fired up a major gathering of conservative and faith voters on Saturday, just days ahead of what’s expected to be an epic head-to-head battle with President Biden in the first presidential debate of 2024.
A diverse crowd of more than a thousand attendees of the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s annual Road to Majority conference piled into the Washington Hilton’s ballroom to hear the former president, who spared no time in mentioning the pending clash.
“Nobody’s going to be watching the debate on Thursday night, right?” Trump joked, prompting laughs from the crowd.
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He spent part of his opening remarks calling for Christians to get out and vote in November. “Christians don’t vote that much. You don’t have to vote in fours years, but you have to vote this time,” he joked.
Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin spoke just ahead of Trump, issuing a call to action to get the former president back into the White House, as well as strengthened Republican majorities in Congress.
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After his remarks, which are expected to last about an hour and 15 minutes, the president will travel to Philadelphia for a rally this evening.
The Road to Majority Conference is hosted annually by F&F, a major Christian grassroots organization with more than 3 million members across the U.S. The conference is known as the largest public policy gathering of conservative Christian activists in the U.S., and will focus on policy issues that matter most to voters of faith ahead of the 2024 election.
Ralph Reed, the founder and chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition, told the Associated Press that social conservatives would like to see a federal ban on abortion and want Republican elected officials to be “profiles in courage” who are “articulating their strongly held pro-life views.”
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Other prominent speakers at the conference were South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who left the Democratic Party in 2022, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Tennessee Sen. Bill Hagerty.
Youngkin, Noem, Carson and Gabbard have also all been mentioned as potential running mates for Trump. The event marks the latest instance where a number of those reportedly in the running for the role could be competing on stage for Trump’s approval ahead of the Republican National Convention this summer.
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.
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