Training and Messaging: GOPAC
GOPAC is a Republican political action committee originally created to recruit and fund candidates at the state and local levels in an effort to build the party into a majority party. It later became the central force in training generations of Republican candidates and promoting disciplined and unified Republican messaging campaigns. GOPAC took on the coordinating role that Powell had urged on the Chamber of Commerce.
The Republican Party created GOPAC to help elect more Republicans to local, state, and national government. A decade after its founding, under the chairmanship of Rep. Newt Gingrich (GA), GOPAC became the centerpiece of the party’s efforts to educate and train new candidates for office. Gingrich implemented a comprehensive program that included training tapes, brochures on how to “speak like Newt” , seminars, and grassroots organizing. These efforts culminated in the Gingrich-led Contract With America and Republican Revolution of 1994 that gave the party control of Congress for the first time in 40 years. Gingrich was then elected Speaker of the House.
