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The conservative group, Club for Growth, is holding its donor retreat in Florida this week and the group of featured speakers includes several declared and rumored GOP presidential candidates, except for former President Donald Trump.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Florida Sen. Rick Scott, New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy will all speak at the event from March 2 through March 4, according to a list provided to NBC News by the Club for Growth.
Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin was invited to attend, but there was a scheduling conflict, a source familiar says. A Youngkin spokesperson confirmed this, adding that the governor is in budget negotiations as the Virginia General Assembly session wraps up.
NBC previously reported that the retreat will take place at The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida.
The Club for Growth’s relationship with Trump has been strained, with the former president mocking the influential conservative group on Truth Social earlier this month.
“The Club For NO Growth, an assemblage of political misfits, globalists, and losers, fought me incessantly and rather viciously during my presidential run in 2016. They said I couldn’t win, I did, and won even bigger in 2020, with millions of more votes than ‘16, but the Election was Rigged & Stollen, [sic]” he wrote in a post.
Asked earlier this month whether he thought Trump could win a general election, Club for Growth President David McIntosh told reporters, “You know, anything’s possible. And if he gets the nomination, we’ll help him try to win. But the last three elections have shown that he lost.”