Outlook May 2026: GOP Warming Trend

by | May 8, 2026

Kacey Laughing

You know you’ve made it when your name ends up on a theater marquee. Bob Inglis in front of the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre in Moscow, Idaho. Photo credit: Tara Hudiburg.

Dear EcoRight Supporter,

GOP organizations are opening up to us. The President may say that climate change is a hoax, but Republicans in party leadership positions seem to be taking him “seriously but not literally.”

It could be just that our Outreach Liaisons are particularly effective. They are, and we thank them, but the warmth of the welcome indicates a felt need for a substantive and a political solution to the climate challenge. Examples come to mind from a review of the April calendar.

The Young Republican Club of Spokane, WA, welcomed me warmly in April, and the press coverage was positive. That event was an add-on to my sixth visit to the University of Idaho, arranged by our friend Tara Hudiburg. Our Utah Outreach Liaison, Grayson Massey, and his team heard that I was getting to Moscow, ID, by flying into Spokane. They got me the opportunity with the YRs of Spokane and another opportunity with some local, elected Republicans of the Town of Spokane Valley.

tend and keep event

Bob Inglis speaking at Anderson University in Anderson, South Carolina.

Even in the midst of a grueling primary season in Indiana, Kacey Shriner, our Indiana Outreach Liaison, got me Zooms with a county GOP Chair and a Republican city council member.

Ben Byrd, our Carolinas Outreach Liaison, got me two Zooms with the leaders of Republican clubs, two in-person college appearances (Anderson University and Presbyterian College), a Zoom with a GOP county chair, and a Zoom with the Republican mayor of Charleston.

The time at Anderson University was particularly encouraging. I spoke to a single class, but it went well enough that we have a shot at repeating the presentation at a university-wide event in the fall. That’s important because Anderson University is a private, Christian school associated with the South Carolina Baptist Convention.

Positive meetings with Republican elected officials, GOP County party chairs, and leaders of Republican clubs and receptive audiences at Christian universities in April have me jazzed up about the rest of the year!

Onward,

Bob

Community Outreach & Engagement

Growing the Conversation

Turns out numbers can tell a pretty exciting story.

March and April brought record-breaking engagement and outreach activity for republicEn. At this point, our team can barely keep track of where in America Bob is on any given day. Good thing we share a calendar.

The growth isn’t just happening at events and meetings. In the next few weeks, republicEn will cross 50,000 followers on Facebook. Check out our graph above. Our LinkedIn presence is growing, too. Not long ago, we had around 100 followers. Today, we’re over 640 and climbing.

We’ve also started leveraging Bob Inglis’ LinkedIn account to redistribute the monthly Outlook newsletter. That audience has now grown to more than 400 subscribers each month. (Donors still get the first edition weeks before everybody else.)

Not bad for a conservative group willing to say “climate change” out loud.

EcoRight Speaks Podcast

It was an exciting month for the EcoRight Speaks podcast! We had the honor of featuring a very special episode with the literal powerhouses of clean energy policy in the State of Texas. Patricia Zavala heads up PowerHouse Texas, a non-profit that educates state lawmakers and their staff on clean energy policy. Joining her were the two leads of the related Texas Climate and Clean Energy Caucus, its founder and chair, Democrat Rep. Erin Zwiener, and its vice-chair, Republican Rep. Drew Darby. This episode demonstrates the power of bipartisanship and of putting economic opportunity over partisan bickering.

Thanks to our advisor and friend, Larry Linenschmidt, for making the introduction. We also had episodes exploring balcony solar and geothermal energy, as well as a listener-request guest to talk about engaging the “left behind” communities on the transformation to the clean energy economy.

EcoRight News Hub

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In the Media

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Events

Upcoming events

      • 05/11: Virtual – Meeting with leadership team of Ducks Unlimited
      • 05/19: Hartsville, SC – Speaking event with Hartsville Rotary Club
      • 05/19: Hartsville, SC – Meeting with David DeWitt, President of Darlington County Farm Bureau
      • 05/19: Hartsville, SC – Speaking event with Darlington County GOP
      • 05/22: Virtual – Meeting with Daniel Rickenmann, Mayor of Columbia, SC
      • 06/03: Asheville, NC – Speaking event with Kiwanis Club of Asheville
      • 06/08: Columbia, SC – Meeting with Don Weaver, SC District 6 Councilmember
      • 06/08: Columbia, SC – Speaking event with Rotary Club of Columbia
      • 06/08: Lexington, SC – Meeting with Todd Cockrell, Lexington County Councilmember
      • 06/11: Hartwell, GA – Speaking event with Hart County GOP
      • 06/12: Virtual – Meeting with Gary Bunker, Chairman of Aiken County Council
      • 06/13: Spartanburg, SC – Speaking event with Spartanburg GOP
      • 06/18: Travelers Rest, SC – Speaking event with Rotary Club of Travelers Rest
      • 07/21: Highlands, NC – Lecturer for Center For Life Enrichment
      • 10/01: Dahlonega, GA – Speaking event with Lumpkin County GOP
      • 10/14: Charleston, SC – Guest lecturer at The Citadel
      • 02/05/27: Bloomington, IN – Keynote speaker for Indiana Sustainability and Resilience Conference

Recent events

Bob Inglis Kenworthy Theatre

The future of conservative climate leadership showed up in Moscow, Idaho. Students and young professionals gathered at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre for a conversation with Bob Inglis on free markets, accountability, and climate solutions. Bonus points for the custom republicEn glasses.

      • 04/01: Conway, SC – Speaker at Sustainability Symposium at Coastal Carolina University
      • 04/02: Virtual – Meeting with Clayton Clarkson, President of Aiken Republican Club
      • 04/06: Virtual – Meeting with William Cogswell, Mayor of Charleston
      • 04/06: Virtual – Meeting with Jan Litton, President of East Cooper Republican Women
      • 04/06: Virtual – Speaker at “Great Salt Lake & Nuclear Energy Policy” event
      • 04/07: Spokane, WA – Guest lecturer for Healing Creation class at Gonzaga University
      • 04/07: Spokane, WA – Speaking event with Spokane County Young Republicans
      • 04/08: Spokane Valley, WA – Meeting with Councilmember Mike Kelly and local GOP leaders in Spokane
      • 04/08: Moscow, ID – Meeting with Journal Club graduate students at University of Idaho
      • 04/08: Moscow, ID – Speaker at “Conservative and Care about Climate Change?” community event
      • 04/09: Moscow, ID – Speaker at Moscow High School
      • 04/09: Moscow, ID – Speaker for University of Idaho student luncheon
      • 04/16: Virtual – Guest lecturer for Principles of Fish and Wildlife Conservation class at Virginia Tech
      • 04/18: Virtual – Keynote speaker for Citizens’ Climate Lobby Conservative Conference
      • 04/21: Anderson, SC – Speaking event at Anderson University
      • 04/22: Virtual – Meeting with Alex Saitta, Chairman of Pickens County Council
      • 04/22: Virtual – Meeting with Michelle Visconti, Chair of Horry County Conservative Alliance
      • 04/23: Clinton, SC – Speaking event with Presbyterian College Conservatives
      • 04/24: Virtual – Meeting with Natalie DeWitt, Councilwoman of Auburn, IN
      • 04/28: Greenville, SC – Speaking event with Upstate Warrior Solution
      • 04/28: Virtual – Meeting with Reese Boyd, Chairman of the Horry County Republican Party
      • 04/29: Simpsonville, SC – Speaking event with Simpsonville Rotary Club
      • 04/30: Virtual – Meeting with Jenae Horn Blasdel, Jay County GOP Chair
      • 05/07: Greenville, SC – Speaking event with Pleasantburg Rotary Club