PLC 2024: Conservatives Calling for A New Start

Lowman Henry, President of the Pennsylvania Leadership Council, Inc., and one of the state’s leading conservative voices, opened the 35th annual gathering of conservative activists in Camp Hill on April 5 — with the control of Congress and the Presidency looming in November.

The message repeated over the three-day Pennsylvania Leadership Conference (PLC) was that America can ill afford four more years of Joe Biden and his far-left band of government insiders bent on the economic and social makeover of America.

David McCormick, U.S. Senate Republican challenger to long-time incumbent Democrat Bob Casey, told the conference on Friday at that a new Republican majority in the U.S. Senate “will block the progressive left from taking our country over the cliff. And under the best case, with President Trump in the White House and a Republican House, it will allow us to drive an agenda to get America back on track.”

McCormick blasted Casey’s “empty suit” support of Biden policies.

Casey voted with Biden 98.5 percent of the time in the 2021-22 Congress.

Recently, PMA President & CEO David N. Taylor and other Pennsylvania business leaders wrote to Senator Casey refuting his untrue assertion that businesses are causing inflation.

In the letter, the leaders identified several factors contributing to inflation – including massive federal spending increases, pandemic-related disruptions, labor costs, and geopolitical events. They urged Casey to refrain from engaging in rhetoric that unfairly targets Pennsylvania employers.

“Inflation is driven by many complex factors… Ignoring these realities and perpetuating a narrative that blames the business community is misleading and inappropriately attacks the character of hardworking Pennsylvanians who create jobs, contribute to our communities, and drive our economy,” the letter said.

The letter was originated by the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry and along with PMA additional signers included:

Broadband Communications Association of Pennsylvania

Manufacturer & Business Association

PennAg Industries Association

Pennsylvania Bankers Association

Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association

Pennsylvania Restaurant & Lodging Association

Also on Friday at the conference, Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts told the gathering that “now is the time more than any other time in our lifetimes to reject what the radical left wants you to be, which is to be discouraged, and instead dig ever deeper than we ever have before because this is the year 2024, when we take this country back.”

He detailed his vision for Project 2025, which is the agenda they support if former President Donald Trump wins the presidency and Republicans win a majority in both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House.

This plan includes selecting a new FBI director and deleting the “liberal code” that created the agency, removing regulations that they view as burdensome to investing in natural resources, and calling for the elimination of the “most rotten part of the federal government,” the U.S. Department of Education.

Additional speakers included Republican candidates for Attorney General: York County District Attorney Dave Sunday, and State Rep. Craig Williams (R-Delaware).

“I’m running for Attorney General because if our communities are not safe, then nothing else matters,” Sunday said during a Saturday morning forum moderated by the PA Chamber’s Alex Harper. “It is the absolute most important part of what we do.”

“What I am bringing to the table is a bona fide, bad to the bone, law and order message about prosecuting in these large cities,” Williams said.

Both candidates also blasted former Attorney General, now Gov. Josh Shapiro.

Friday’s Liberty Dinner featured keynote speaker Dinesh D’Souza and special guest Vivek Ramaswamy. D’Souza wrote, directed, and narrated the 2022 documentary, “2000 Mules”, which called into question the integrity of the 2020 presidential election. Ramaswamy was a candidate for the 2024 GOP nomination for President.

Attendees also heard from U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-10) and state Senate Majority Leader Joe Pittman (R-Indiana).

Saturday, the third and final day of the conference, included presentations by Pennsylvania Treasurer Stacy Garrity and U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser (R-9th District), as well as panels on mobilizing voters and the annual straw poll results.

The Pennsylvania primary election is Tuesday, April 23.