Media

(Harrisburg, PA) – The 2026 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference to be held April 9-11, 2026 at the Penn Harris Convention Center in Camp Hill (Harrisburg), Pennsylvania will feature an expanded menu of 15 workshop/breakout sessions in addition to the main stage presentations.

Christopher Ruddy, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Newsmax, Inc., which includes the popular Newsmax cable channel, will be the featured dinner speaker. The State of the Conservative Movement panel returns with moderator Colin Hanna of Let Freedom Ring, USA along with panelists John Gizzi of Newsmax, American Spectator editor-in-chief Dr. Paul Kengor, and Jeff Lord a Newsmax and American Spectator

Additional speakers and panel topics will be announced over the coming weeks.

The Pennsylvania Leadership Conference is the premiere gathering of public policy conservatives each year in the Keystone State.  It is the largest and longest-running of the state-based conservative conferences regularly attracting a long list of conservative elected officials, scholars, journalists, and activists for three days of speeches, panel presentations.

Workshop/Breakout Sessions:

(Presenter names & bio information are available on our website.)

Americans for Prosperity

From Community to the Capitol: Recruiting the Right Leaders

Commonwealth Foundation

Stop Shapiro’s Tax Hikes

Pennsylvania Family Institute

Getting Stuff Right: Protecting Life, Families & Religious Liberty

Leadership Institute:

  • Are You Ready to Run: Questions to Ask Yourself Before Running
  • Show Me the Money: Putting the Fun in Fundraising
  • Faith & Politics: Appealing to Conservatives of Faith
  • Social Media: Battling the Keyboard Warriors
  • Public Speaking: Overcoming the World’s # 1 Fear
  • Capturing the Youth Vote: Engaging a New Generation

Citizens Alliance of Pennsylvania

Citizens Alliance: Advancing State-Based Policies Grounded in Liberty

Louis J. Capozzi, Jr., Esq.

A History of the Republican Party

American Institute for Economic Research

Powering Pennsylvania: Energy Policy, Prices and Jobs

Heritage Action for America

Roadmap to an America First Immigration System: How the Trump Administration is Ending Border Chaos and How Congress Can Help

Republican National Lawyers Association

Election Integrity and Litigation: Inside and Outside the Commonwealth

Red Bridge

Pennsylvania’s Shifting Coalitions

 

Registration for the 2026 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference is NOW OPEN at www.paleadershipconference.org. (Please note the Early Bird discount rate is built into the registration fee so there is no need to enter a discount code as it will be automatically applied. The PLC web site also includes a brief video tutorial to help you navigate the process.

(Harrisburg, PA) – The popular State of the Conservative Movement panel moderated by Colin Hanna of Let Freedom Ring, USA and featuring John Gizzi, White House correspondent for Newsmax, Dr. Paul Kengoreditor-in-chief of the American Spectator and Newsmax and American Spectator contributor Jeff Lord of will return for the 2026 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference to be held April 9-11,2026 at the Penn Harris Convention Center in Camp Hill (Harrisburg), Pennsylvania.

 

Christopher Ruddy, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Newsmax, Inc., which includes the popular Newsmax cable channel, will be the featured dinner speaker. This year’s 2026 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference will provide attendees with an expanded menu of workshop sessions on Thursday and a new welcome reception on Thursday evening. Additional speakers, panel topics, and workshop details will be announced over the coming weeks.

The Pennsylvania Leadership Conference is the premiere gathering of public policy conservatives each year in the Keystone State.  It is the largest and longest-running of the state-based conservative conferences regularly attracting a long list of conservative elected officials, scholars, journalists, and activists for three days of speeches, panel presentations, workshops, and networking.

Registration for the 2026 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference is NOW OPEN at www.paleadershipconference.org. (Please note the Early Bird discount rate is built into the registration fee so there is no need to enter a discount code as it will be automatically applied. The PLC web site also includes a brief video tutorial to help you navigate the process.

*****

John Gizzi is Newsmax’s chief political columnist and White House correspondent. He is “the man who knows everyone in Washington” as well as many who hold elected positions and party leadership roles throughout America.  For many years he held a similar position with the venerable conservative publication Human Events.  He has appeared on countless radio and TV shows in America and in Europe.  He is the recipient of the William A. Rusher Award for Journalistic Excellence and was named Journalist of the Year by the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).

*****

Paul Kengor, Ph.D., is professor of political science at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania, Editor-in-Chief of the American Spectator, and a New York Times bestselling author of nearly 20 books. He is senior director and chief academic fellow at the Institute for Faith & Freedom and former visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. Kengor is an internationally recognized authority on (among other topics) Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, communism, socialism, and conservatism.

Several of his books are the basis for major films, including the documentary, The Divine Plan (Robert Orlando, producer), which screened in theaters nationwide in 2019, and the recent bio-pic Reagan: The Movie, starring Dennis Quaid and David Henrie.

Kengor received his doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs and master’s degree from The American University’s School of International Service. He holds an honorary doctorate from Franciscan University. He and his wife, Susan, have eight children, two of which are adopted.

*****

Jeffrey Lord is a journalist, TV and radio commentator and author. After graduating from Louis E. Dieruff High School in Allentown, he graduated from Franklin & Marshall College in 1973 with a degree in government, beginning his career on the staff of the Pennsylvania State Senate Republican Leader.

He moved to Washington to work successively as the press secretary and legislative director for Pennsylvania Congressman Bud Shuster and then executive assistant to Pennsylvania’s senior US Senator John Heinz.  He was chief of staff to Reagan-Bush ’84 co-chair Drew Lewis, then served as a White House Associate Director of Political Affairs for President Ronald Reagan. In the administration of President George H.W. Bush he was a legislative aide for HUD Secretary Jack Kemp before leaving government for a career in the media.

He is now a Contributing Editor for The American Spectator, a Newsbusters columnist and Newsmax TV contributor as well as the host of The Word of the Lord with Jeffrey Lord podcast and his website TheJeffreyLord.com.

*****

Colin A. Hanna is President of Let Freedom Ring, Inc., a public policy nonprofit committed to promoting Constitutional government, economic freedom, and traditional values.

He served as County Commissioner for Chester County, Pennsylvania from 1995 to 2003. Previously, he was an executive with CBS Radio and Television and a small business owner. Commissioner Hanna has been a guest on MSNBC's Hardball and most of the Fox News Channel programs. He has appeared as a weekly guest on the Chris Stigall Show on WPHT-AM Phila. He hosted Conservative Solutions to Liberal Problems on Salem's WNTP-AM Phila. He is a commentator on American Radio Journal, syndicated to over 200 radio stations, and an op-ed contributor to The Washington TimesPhiladelphia InquirerThe HillRoll CallAtlanta Journal & Constitution, and National Review Online, among others.

He is a U.S. Navy veteran. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania. He and his wife, Pricie, live in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

(Harrisburg, PA) – Christopher Ruddy, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Newsmax, Inc. which includes the popular Newsmax channel will be the featured dinner speaker at the 2026 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference to be held April 9-11, 2026

This year’s Pennsylvania Leadership Conference will provide attendees with an expanded menu of workshop sessions on Thursday and a new welcome reception on Thursday evening. Additional speakers, panel topics, and workshop details will be announced over the coming weeks.

The Pennsylvania Leadership Conference is the premiere gathering of public policy conservatives each year in the Keystone State.  It is the largest and longest-running of the state-based conservative conferences regularly attracting a long list of conservative elected officials, scholars, journalists, and activists for three days of speeches, panel presentations, workshops, and networking.

Registration for the 2026 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference is NOW OPEN at www.paleadershipconference.org. (Please note the Early Bird discount rate is built into the registration fee so there is no need to enter a discount code as it will be automatically applied. The PLC web site also includes a brief video tutorial to help you navigate the registration system.)

Christopher Ruddy founded Newsmax Inc. in 1998 and serves as its CEO. Newsmax today is one of the nation’s leading broadcasting and digital media companies. The Company includes the Newsmax network, the 4th highest-rated cable news channel in the U.S., according to Nielsen. In 2024 a Reuters Institute study found Newsmax was one of the top 12 U.S. news brands.

Ruddy is a long-time friend of President Donald Trump. President Trump has called Newmax “terrific” and urged his supports to tune in saying “I like Newsmax and you should too.”

Ruddy began his career as a journalist at the New York Post and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Multichannel News named him to its “News Titans” list of the top 10 people to know in television news. Newsweek ranked him one of America’s top 20 most influential news media personalities.

He holds a B.A. summa cum laude from St. John’s University in New York and a MSc. of Economics from the London School of Economics. He also studied Mid-East politics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from St. John’s University, Ruddy has been a Media Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and served as a member on the Knight Foundation’s Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy.

 

Register for the 2026 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference TODAY at www.paleadershipconference.org.

Registration NOW OPEN at ‘Early Bird’ Rates

(Harrisburg, PA) – Christopher Ruddy, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Newsmax, Inc. which includes the popular Newsmax channel will be the featured dinner speaker at the 2026 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference to be held April 9-11, 2026 at the Penn Harris Convention Center in Camp Hill (Harrisburg), Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania Leadership Conference is the premiere gathering of public policy conservatives each year in the Keystone State.  It is the largest and longest-running of the state-based conservative conferences regularly attracting a long list of conservative elected officials, scholars, journalists, and activists for three days of speeches, panel presentations, workshops, and networking.

Registration for the 2026 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference is NOW OPEN at www.paleadershipconference.org. (Please note the Early Bird discount rate is built into the registration fee so there is no need to enter a discount code as it will be automatically applied. The PLC web site also includes a brief video tutorial to help you navigate the registration system.)

Christopher Ruddy founded Newsmax Inc. in 1998 and serves as its CEO. Newsmax today is one of the nation’s leading broadcasting and digital media companies. The Company includes the Newsmax network, the 4th highest-rated cable news channel in the U.S., according to Nielsen. In 2024 a Reuters Institute study found Newsmax was one of the top 12 U.S. news brands.

Ruddy is a long-time friend of President Donald Trump. President Trump has called Newmax “terrific” and urged his supports to tune in saying “I like Newsmax and you should too.”

Ruddy began his career as a journalist at the New York Post and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Multichannel News named him to its “News Titans” list of the top 10 people to know in television news. Newsweek ranked him one of America’s top 20 most influential news media personalities.

He holds a B.A. summa cum laude from St. John’s University in New York and a MSc. of Economics from the London School of Economics. He also studied Mid-East politics at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from St. John’s University, Ruddy has been a Media Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University and served as a member on the Knight Foundation’s Commission on Trust, Media and Democracy.

Register for the 2026 Pennsylvania Leadership Conference TODAY at www.paleadershipconference.org.

 

-30-