Courageous Conservatives PAC, a federal

political action committee In the United States, a political action committee (PAC) is a tax-exempt 527 organization that pools campaign contributions from members and donates those funds to campaigns for or against candidates, ballot initiatives, or legislation. The l ...

, was first established in 2015 to help conservative candidates win election against moderate candidates. Christopher Ekstrom, a

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

-based Republican investor, chairs the PAC.

Leadership

Christopher Ekstrom is the Chairman of Courageous Conservatives PAC and also Conservative Response Team. Ekstrom is a vocal critic of the Democratic Party and

moderate wing of the Republican Party Moderate is an ideological category which entails centrist views on a liberal-conservative spectrum. It may also designate a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. Political position Canada ...

. Ekstrom publicly attacked U.S. Senator

John McCain John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American statesman and United States Navy, naval officer who represented the Arizona, state of Arizona in United States Congress, Congress for over 35 years, first as ...

for his votes to confirm

Ruth Bader Ginsburg Joan Ruth Bader Ginsburg ( ; Bader; March 15, 1933 – September 18, 2020) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1993 until Death and state funeral of Ruth Bader ...

John Kerry John Forbes Kerry (born December 11, 1943) is an American attorney, politician, and diplomat who served as the 68th United States secretary of state from 2013 to 2017 in the Presidency of Barack Obama#Administration, administration of Barac ...

, and

Eric Holder Eric Himpton Holder Jr. (born January 21, 1951) is an American lawyer who served as the 82nd United States attorney general from 2009 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Holder was the first African Ameri ...

Political activity

In 2016 the PAC supported Texas U.S. Senator

Ted Cruz Rafael Edward Cruz (; born December 22, 1970) is an American politician and attorney serving as the junior United States senator from Texas since 2013. A member of the Republican Party, Cruz was the solicitor general of Texas from 2003 ...

in his bid for President and made advertisements against

Marco Rubio Marco Antonio Rubio (; born May 28, 1971) is an American politician, lawyer, and diplomat serving since 2025 as the 72nd United States Secretary of State, United States secretary of state. A member of the Republican Party (United States) , Rep ...

and his Gang of Eight Amnesty proposal made during his presidential campaign, as well as

Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. A member of the Bush family, Bush political family, he was an unsuccessful candidate for pre ...

and

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. Dr.

James Dobson James Clayton Dobson Jr. (born April 21, 1936) is an American evangelicalism, evangelical Christian author, psychologist, and founder of Focus on the Family (FotF), which he led from 1977 until 2010. In the 1980s, he was ranked as one of the m ...

, founder of

Focus on the Family Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is an American Christian fundamentalism, Evangelical Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of Evangel ...

voiced an advertisement in support of Senator Ted Cruz through the PAC. In November 2016 Courageous Conservatives PAC released a pro

Steve Bannon Stephen Kevin Bannon (born November 27, 1953) is an American media executive, political strategist, and former investment banker. He served as the White House's chief strategist for the first seven months of president Donald Trump's first ...

advertisement after President

named Bannon as his top policy aide. During the Alabama U.S. Senate Special Election to fill

Jeff Sessions Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (born December 24, 1946) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 84th United States attorney general from 2017 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as United Stat ...

U.S. Senate seat, Courageous Conservative PAC endorsed Alabama Congressman

Mo Brooks Morris Jackson Brooks Jr. (born April 29, 1954) is an American attorney and politician who served as the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2023. His district was based in Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsvill ...

. In referencing Roy Moore during the endorsement of Mo Brooks on June 15, 2017, the PAC stated "There’s a real legitimate concern that with a special election on December 12th that Roy Moore as our nominee could actually lose an Alabama Senate seat to a Democrat." Courageous Conservatives PAC endorsed

Roy Moore Roy Stewart Moore (born February 11, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer, and jurist who served as chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama from 2001 to 2003 and again from 2013 to 2017, each time being removed from office for judic ...

during the runoff election and in the general election. After Roy Moore lost to Doug Jones in the 2017 special election, the PAC ran robocalls against Alabama U.S. Senator

Richard Shelby Richard Craig Shelby (born May 6, 1934) is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States senator from Alabama from 1987 to 2023. First elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 as a Democrat, Shelby switched to the Republican Party i ...

after he stated "“couldn’t vote for Roy Moore.” The ad stated "Sen. Richard Shelby stabbed President Trump and conservatives in the back, Tell Shelby you’ll never forget his disloyalty to President Trump and the Republican Party for his treasonous actions. Tell Shelby he’s betrayed his trust to Alabamians and he should resign his office. Call now." In the 2018 Arizona Republican Primary Courageous Conservatives PAC supported Lt. Col. Wendy Rogers where she won on August 28, 2018.

References

External links

*{{official website, http://www.courageousconservativespac.com/ United States political action committees Republican Party (United States) organizations Conservative organizations in the United States