– A leading conservative organization that is already a big spender in Republican primary politics is looking to up its game in the 2026 election cycle as it aligns with President Donald Trump and his political team.
‘Our goal is going to be even bigger and do more,’ Club for Growth President David McIntosh emphasized in an exclusive interview with Fox News Digital.
The Club for Growth is a political advocacy organization which pushes a fiscally conservative agenda, including a focus on tax cuts and other economic issues.
Its political arm, the Club for Growth Action super PAC, has been a major player in GOP primary showdowns.
Club for Growth Action says it and its affiliated super PACs raised $163 million in the 2024 election cycle, and touts that it won 73% of the races where it made political investments. The group says it aims to up the ante in the 2026 cycle, and it works to strengthen the Republican majorities in the House and Senate.
McIntosh said that when it comes to increasing its investments this year and next year, ‘a lot of that depends on the members. We’re dependent on our donors to help us fund these races.’
However, he added, ‘we’ve got some very good, generous people who support us in that.’
‘One of the key factors,’ McIntosh emphasized, ‘is going to be President Trump and his endorsement. That literally trumps everything else. So what we would do is recommend to him and his political team what candidates that we think would support his agenda, the free market, limited government conservatives that we could support together.’
McIntosh and the Club have had an up-and-down relationship with Trump. They opposed Trump as he ran for the White House in 2016 before embracing him as an ally. In the 2022 cycle, Trump and the Club teamed up in some high-profile GOP primaries but clashed over combustible Senate nomination battles in Alabama, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Additionally, the Club was on the outs with Trump as the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race got underway. Trump repeatedly criticized McIntosh and the Club, referring to them as ‘The Club for NO Growth,’ and claimed they were ‘an assemblage of political misfits, globalists, and losers.’
However, Trump and McIntosh made peace about a year ago, with Trump saying in March 2024, as he was wrapping up the GOP presidential nomination, that they were ‘back in love’ after the protracted falling out.
‘I think you’ll see Club for Growth PACs work closely with President Trump, his political team,’ McIntosh told Fox News. ‘We’re definitely going to be working closely with his policy team to get the tax bill through, a lot of the legislation that we both agree is really important for turning things around in the country.’
Club officials say that they are planning an eight-figure federal advocacy campaign to support what they call the pro-growth, free-market initiatives proposed by the Trump administration. A top item their campaign will spotlight is the push to expand and permanently codify the Trump tax cuts passed during his first term in the White House.
The group is also advocating for federal school freedom legislation, which would allow parents ‘to use federal tax dollars to send their students to the public, private, charter, or homeschool that best fits their learning needs.’
Club for Growth Action last year teamed up with allied groups to target and defeat 10 GOP incumbent state lawmakers in Texas who had opposed the so-called school choice legislation. The group also spent big bucks in Tennessee on a similar mission, and this year is continuing its crusade in five other states where school choice bills are being considered.
The Club on Thursday kicks off its annual donor retreat for top-dollar contributors, which is held each year at an exclusive beachfront resort in the upper crust seaside community of Palm Beach, Florida.
Some of the best-known names on the right will be speaking at the confab, as they mingle with big-pocketed donors.
Among the politicians attending are Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah, Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Tim Scott of South Carolina (who is the chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP’s campaign arm), Rick Scott of Florida and freshman lawmaker Bernie Moreno of Ohio.
Among the House members attending are House Speaker Mike Johnson and Reps. Byron Donalds, who is moving towards a 2026 run for governor in Florida, and Nancy Mace of South Carolina, who is also mulling a gubernatorial bid.
Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida is also attending, as is Vivek Ramaswamy, who earlier this week launched a 2026 campaign for Ohio governor.
