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The future of the conservative movement rests on the ability of candidates and activists to embrace the best tenets of populism while addressing issues that are uncomfortable in “establishment Washington,” the leader of one of America’s oldest conservative policy groups told Fox News Digital.
Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts, in Phoenix for the first AmericaFest following the murder of Charlie Kirk, said that despite a wave of recent losses for conservatives, there is great hope for the future. The event was packed with thousands of conservatives from around the nation.
“I was expecting to be really encouraged, and I am,” Roberts said of people he has engaged with at AmericaFest. “There’s a lot of passion and encouragement in that room. And I think we have to keep in mind, moving on to a second point, that you have to ignore sort of the naysayers and the doomsayers about conservative politicians losing the midterms.”
He said that despite bad press and wipeouts for the right in Virginia, New Jersey, Florida and Pennsylvania, conservatives “ought to be more optimistic” after what he called a great first year of the Trump-Vance administration and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., working together.
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“What we’ve got to do for 2026 is articulate to the American people — starting with this crowd here at AmFest — what those policy priorities need to be; not just for the short term but for the long term and Heritage certainly is in the middle of that conversation.”
To keep conservatism at the fore in 2026, given recent setbacks, conservatives must run on an “aspirational vision” he said was lacking in several 2025 races – while noting Jack Ciattarelli’s failed bid for governor of New Jersey bid as one of the better-run campaigns.
Looking to the new year, Roberts said Heritage is interested in seeing policymakers asking those uncomfortable questions inside the Beltway, like what the future of the American family looks like, whether the workplace is one where Americans earn dignity and not just a paycheck, and more directly, “what it means to be an American.”
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“[That’s] to say something, of course, that establishment Washington doesn’t like to talk about,” he said.
“What’s the future, not just of immigration policy, but how can we assimilate the highest percentage of foreign-born population we’ve had in modern American history? This is important for all of us if in fact we’re going to have a healthy society,” he said.
“The bottom line is this, if establishment Washington talks about just sort of sidebar issues in this campaign, then the midterms are going to be a disaster. “
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“They, to state the obvious, have to talk about what the American people are asking, and they actually have to offer policy solutions where I happen to think Heritage has some good things to say.”
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The best way for conservatives to move forward, he said, is to embrace a “good fusion of the best elements of populism.”
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“Namely, exercising popular will over longstanding conservative principles like diminishing the size of the administrative state, but also making sure that we’re sustaining our longstanding, conservative principles,” Roberts said.
“Whoever the standard-bearers are for conservatism in 2028, 2032, 2036, their policy ideas are going to sound a lot like Trump’s, but of course they are going to bring their own imprint into that.”
“Those of us who focus on ideas and policy for a living need to do our jobs zealously well to keep offering not just the long-standing policy ideas, but some innovative ones as well,” he added.
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Looking ahead to Heritage’s work in 2026, Roberts said the think tank will focus on family, the future of free enterprise, national security, and citizenship.
“And then we’re also focused, especially on the side of our enterprise that works on advocacy and campaigns, “Heritage Action [For America]”, what those particular places are where we can tell that story to the American people. And hopefully, people running for office will take those issues and run with them,” he said.
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