For Reagan Republicans, the new GOP platform is a disaster. Moving well beyond prudence and realism, it outright abandons the party’s long-standing pro-life ideals. It abandons free trade, which has not only made America wealthier but also has reduced poverty throughout the world and made the world a safer place. It also moves well beyond the ideals of securing our border and bringing law and order back to immigration policy. It explicitly favors mass deportations, showing none of the humanity of Reagan and other great Republican statesmen.
Many conservatives made a Faustian bargain when they supported the populist faction of the GOP. They accepted the incivility; they accepted the irresponsibility; they accepted the lack of principle, because they believed that the populists could get things done on policy. Perhaps they were not familiar with the story of Faust when they made those bargains, because the GOP’s latest platform reveals they will ultimately be abandoned on policy as well.
Whatever happens in November, traditional conservatives need a plan. America needs a sane, civil and responsible conservative party. We do not have that, and third parties have no chance. We need to build our own faction within the GOP. That is why I have created a PAC, the Reagan Caucus, which aims to gather and mobilize traditional conservatives to vote in primaries for principled, civil, responsible and conservative candidates.
We have a pledge for like-minded conservatives and right-leaning moderates to commit to voting in primaries for principled, responsible and civil candidates who share our values. We have a team that includes experienced experts in data and artificial intelligence who can help us efficiently campaign to build our pledge list. We are currently fundraising toward that goal. We plan on using this pledge list to mobilize our people to vote in GOP primaries and reestablish Reaganite conservativism as a force in the Republican Party.
This strategy is not as far out as it seems. Only 30 million of America’s 244 million eligible voters vote in GOP primaries. If Nikki Haley had stayed in the race until the convention, she likely would have gained at least 8 million votes. To take over the GOP, the non-populist Reagan Caucus will have to gain a few million additional primary voters, and even if it does not overtake the populist wing of the party, it can influence the party in the direction of more traditional policies, approach and etiquette. We should not wait until 2026 and 2028 to build this faction — we should begin now, unless we want to find ourselves in the same situation we do now in November of 2028.
Thomas D. Howes is the director of the Reagan Caucus PAC, a lecturer in politics at Princeton University and the editor-in-chief of the Vital Center.