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Jim Pfaff on Trump, Election Integrity, and Saving America | Cowboys and Indians. TCC Podcast #35

Published: March 19, 2025
Network: The Conservative Caucus
Analysis: Conservative Caucus President Jim Pfaff

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As America approaches the 2026 midterms, election integrity efforts have become a central focus for conservative organizations working to secure free and fair elections. Jim Pfaff, President of The Conservative Caucus, outlined comprehensive strategies to clean up voter rolls, eliminate unsolicited mail ballots, and support President Trump’s agenda during a wide-ranging discussion on the Cowboys and Indians podcast. From addressing the problems with universal mail-in voting to building grassroots networks across all 50 states, Pfaff’s vision represents a coordinated effort to restore confidence in American elections while advancing constitutional principles.

Topics Covered

• The Conservative Caucus: Mission and History
• Election Integrity: Cleaning Up Voter Rolls and Eliminating Mail Ballot Fraud
• The Constitutional Case Against Unsolicited Mail Ballots
• Supporting Trump’s Agenda and the DOGE Efforts
• The RINO Problem: Why Party Loyalty Isn’t Enough
• Focusing on Gen Z: The Future of Conservative Activism
• Grassroots Action: From School Boards to Congress
• The Family Foundation: Why Strong Households Matter

The Conservative Caucus: Mission and History

Founded in 1974 by Howard Phillips, The Conservative Caucus holds the distinction of being America’s oldest conservative grassroots organization. Phillips was instrumental in the Goldwater-Reagan conservative movement that reshaped American politics in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. Under Pfaff’s leadership since February 2024, the organization has refocused its efforts on building state-by-state and congressional district-by-district networks.

The organization operates as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit lobbying entity, allowing it to engage directly in political advocacy and independent expenditure campaigns. During the 2024 election cycle, The Conservative Caucus spent approximately $8 million on pro-Trump independent expenditures, with plans to invest $2-3 million or more in the 2026 midterm races.

“We are a MAGA organization. We are pro-Donald Trump. We believe in the MAGA agenda… We need Donald Trump to be effective these four years. It’s going to save America if he can do what he wants to do, and we’re out there to stand with the president and stand with this agenda in every way we can.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Pfaff brings three decades of political experience to the role, including leadership positions in pro-market economic organizations, state legislative campaigns, and serving as chief of staff for Representatives Lynn Jenkins (Kansas) and Thomas Massie (Kentucky). His background combines strong free-market Austrian economics principles with pro-family, pro-life advocacy.

Election Integrity: Cleaning Up Voter Rolls and Eliminating Mail Ballot Fraud

One of The Conservative Caucus’s primary initiatives involves comprehensive election integrity efforts focused on cleaning up voter registration rolls across all 50 states. The organization is implementing a strategy using National Change of Address (NCOA) data—the official Post Office database that tracks every address change in America.

This NCOA system is already widely used by direct mail companies and organizations managing large mailing lists to ensure accuracy. By applying this same technology to voter rolls, The Conservative Caucus can identify voters who are no longer valid residents in their registered locations and present this evidence to state Secretaries of State or other election authorities.

Pfaff acknowledged that this process will involve “a big legal battle,” but emphasized the organization’s commitment to taking on these challenges. The goal is to work state by state to quickly implement processes that clean up voter rolls and ensure that only eligible, current residents are registered to vote in each jurisdiction.

The urgency of these election integrity efforts is particularly acute in states like Washington and Oregon, where universal mail-in ballot systems create opportunities for fraud. As one host noted, he still receives mail-in ballots for a previous resident who died in 2006—nearly two decades of a deceased person remaining on voter rolls and receiving ballots.

The Constitutional Case Against Unsolicited Mail Ballots

Pfaff drew a critical distinction between two types of mail voting that is often conflated in public discourse: absentee ballots and unsolicited mail ballots. Understanding this difference is essential to crafting constitutional solutions to election security problems.

Absentee ballots are requested by individual voters who have legitimate reasons they cannot vote in person—military service overseas, hospitalization, nursing home residency, or necessary business travel. These ballots require a signed affidavit under penalty of law, creating legal accountability for the voter.

Unsolicited mail ballots, by contrast, are sent automatically by the state to every address on voter rolls, regardless of whether the voter requested one or even still lives at that address. This system eliminates the direct connection between the voter and the ballot.

“What is the trigger for the constitutionality of the vote and also the constitutionality of the primacy of the states to be able to determine how their elections are run? What is the key factor? It’s the voter. But what those mail-in ballots are is the state saying, ‘We can send these ballots out to anybody we want to.’ Well, if it’s not solicited, in my opinion legally, you’ve taken away the voter connection to that.”
— Jim Pfaff

This constitutional argument provides the foundation for federal legislation that could eliminate unsolicited mail ballots while preserving legitimate absentee voting. Pfaff believes Congress has the authority to pass such legislation because unsolicited ballots sever the constitutional connection between the individual voter and their ballot.

The Problem of Ballot Harvesting

Closely related to unsolicited mail ballots is the practice of “ballot harvesting” or “vote gathering,” which is legal in some states like California. This practice allows third parties to collect ballots from voters’ homes and deliver them to election offices.

Pfaff identified several problems with this system:

• Chain of custody issues: There’s no way to verify that ballots weren’t tampered with, discarded, or altered during collection and transport
• Electioneering at the door: Ballot collectors can influence voters at their homes, away from the traditional protections against electioneering at polling places
• Pressure on non-voters: People who had no intention of voting can be pressured to vote by partisan activists at their door
• Extended voting periods: Some states allow 45-50 day voting periods, creating opportunities for systematic ballot harvesting operations

Traditional election law prohibits electioneering within a certain distance of polling places precisely to prevent voters from being pressured or influenced in the moments before casting their ballots. Ballot harvesting effectively moves the polling place to the voter’s front door, where no such protections exist.

Federal Authority to Regulate Elections

Addressing concerns from libertarian-minded conservatives about federal overreach, Pfaff noted that the federal government already regulates state elections in several ways:

Civil Rights Act oversight: Since 1964, Southern states have been required to submit election law changes to the Department of Justice for approval—a direct federal role in state election administration.

Motor Voter laws: Federal legislation requires states to offer voter registration at DMV offices and other government agencies.

UOCAVA laws: The Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act establishes federal guidelines for military and overseas voting.

Given these precedents, Pfaff argues that federal legislation requiring voter ID with citizenship verification, eliminating unsolicited mail ballots, and outlawing ballot harvesting would be constitutional exercises of federal authority to ensure the integrity of federal elections.

Supporting Trump’s Agenda and the DOGE Efforts

The Conservative Caucus has positioned itself as a full-throated supporter of President Trump’s agenda, particularly the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) efforts led by Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy. Pfaff emphasized that while there might be minor policy disagreements on specific issues, the overall direction of the Trump administration represents the best hope for saving America.

The DOGE initiative aims to dramatically reduce government waste, eliminate redundant agencies, and streamline federal operations. Pfaff stressed the importance of keeping public attention focused on DOGE findings and recommendations.

“The DOGE effort needs a lot of light put on it. It’s one thing to get the information that we’ve gotten so far—and it’s substantial and compelling and very important—but we’ve got to keep talking about that message. We need to keep rolling that out and let people know why it’s important.”
— Jim Pfaff

The organization plans to use its grassroots network to amplify DOGE findings and pressure Congress to implement recommended reforms. This represents a shift from traditional lobbying, which often focuses on narrow policy issues, to a broader campaign to fundamentally restructure government operations.

The National Debt Crisis

Pfaff provided sobering context for why DOGE efforts are so critical. In 2001, the Office of Management and Budget projected that the United States would completely pay off its then-$5.5 trillion national debt by 2013. The projection was so confident that policy analysts worried about how to handle 30-year bondholders who would need to be paid off early.

Instead, the national debt now stands at approximately $37 trillion and is rapidly approaching $39 trillion, with annual deficits exceeding $2 trillion. This represents a complete reversal from surplus projections to catastrophic debt accumulation in just over two decades.

Pfaff placed responsibility for this crisis squarely on both political parties. President George W. Bush doubled the national debt during his eight years in office. President Barack Obama doubled it again. While some of President Trump’s first-term debt was related to COVID-19 emergency spending, the pattern of bipartisan fiscal irresponsibility has brought America to the brink of economic crisis.

The Tariff Debate

Coming from a libertarian, free-market, Austrian economics background, Pfaff acknowledged that he doesn’t support “tariffs for tariffs’ sake.” However, he defended President Trump’s reciprocal tariff approach as both economically sound and politically realistic.

The concept is straightforward: if another country charges American goods a certain tariff rate, the United States will charge that country’s goods the same rate. This eliminates the need for complex tariff schedules determined by lobbyists and creates a simple, fair system based on reciprocity.

The ultimate goal would be zero tariffs between countries with truly free trade agreements, but in the absence of such agreements, reciprocal tariffs ensure that American businesses aren’t disadvantaged by other nations’ protectionist policies.

The RINO Problem: Why Party Loyalty Isn’t Enough

One of the most candid portions of the discussion addressed the ongoing problem of Republicans In Name Only (RINOs)—elected officials who campaign as conservatives but govern as establishment moderates or even align with Democrat priorities.

Pfaff’s experience as chief of staff to Representatives Lynn Jenkins and Thomas Massie gave him an insider’s perspective on the dysfunction of congressional Republicans. He identified the House Appropriations Committee—particularly the senior members known as “Cardinals”—as a major source of fiscal irresponsibility.

“The weakness of the Trump agenda is Republicans in Congress. By and large, we’ve got a large group of them now—fortunately, so far they’ve been standing together, so I’m very pleased with that both with the nominations and so far with the main agenda items. But my frustration for eight years on Capitol Hill was the appropriators, the Cardinals—folks who love to spend money. A lot of the problems we’re in right now, it’s mostly a Democrat problem, but do not be fooled, it’s also a Republican problem.”
— Jim Pfaff

The MAGA movement represents a breaking away from what Pfaff called the “uniparty agenda”—a bipartisan consensus that consistently grew government regardless of which party held power. The only difference was the “English you put on the ball”—the rhetorical framing of essentially similar big-government policies.

The Thomas Massie Controversy

Pfaff addressed the recent conflict between Representative Thomas Massie and President Trump over a continuing resolution spending bill. While Pfaff disagreed with Massie’s position on that particular vote, he strongly defended Massie’s overall record and constitutional principles.

The key distinction Pfaff drew was between principled disagreements among constitutional conservatives versus fundamental differences with RINOs who don’t share conservative values at all. Massie replaced a “radical RINO” when he was first elected in 2012, representing a significant upgrade in constitutional fidelity.

Pfaff argued that the conservative movement needs “250 Thomas Massies and Chip Roys and Jim Jordans” in Congress—principled constitutionalists who will occasionally disagree on tactics but share fundamental values. The real problem is the larger bloc of Republicans who campaign conservatively but govern as part of the Washington establishment.

The solution isn’t to primary every Republican who occasionally votes differently than Trump, but to focus energy on removing genuine RINOs—those who fundamentally don’t believe in limited government, constitutional principles, or the America First agenda.

Constitutionalism Over Partisanship

Throughout the discussion, Pfaff emphasized that allegiance should be to the Constitution and constitutional principles rather than to political parties. He noted that he’s called himself a “Christian libertarian” for many years, reflecting a commitment to liberty grounded in Judeo-Christian ethics rather than partisan loyalty.

“There’s no United States without the Constitution. That’s what forms the United States of America. We understand what that means, and the beauty of having limited government… Anyone that calls themselves a centrist Republican is someone that really wants Democrats to like them. That’s really all that it is.”
— Jim Pfaff

This constitutional focus allows for tactical flexibility while maintaining strategic clarity. Politicians who fundamentally believe in the Constitution and limited government can disagree on specific votes without being labeled traitors to the movement. But politicians who fundamentally believe in growing government and Washington power—whether they have an R or D after their name—need to be opposed and replaced.

Focusing on Gen Z: The Future of Conservative Activism

The Conservative Caucus has made a strategic decision to focus its outreach and organizing efforts on Generation Z—Americans roughly in their 20s and early 30s. Pfaff’s entire staff of six people falls into this demographic (with Pfaff himself being the lone Gen Xer).

This focus is deliberate and strategic for several reasons:

Career and family formation: Gen Z is in the critical phase of building careers and starting families. The policies enacted today will have the most direct impact on their lives over the next 10-20 years, giving them the highest stakes in current political battles.

Generational succession: Baby Boomers are aging out of their most politically active years. While they remain important voters, their personal stake in long-term policy outcomes is diminishing. Gen Z will be the leaders and decision-makers for the next several decades.

Parental influence: Gen Z are the parents of young children—the next generation. Their values, priorities, and political engagement will directly shape how the next generation is raised and educated.

Digital natives: Gen Z grew up with social media and digital communication. They’re naturally positioned to lead online organizing efforts, create viral content, and reach younger audiences through platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Pfaff acknowledged that reaching Gen Z presents challenges. Many are in the busiest phase of life—working full-time jobs, raising young children, managing household responsibilities. They have less free time for political activism than college students or retirees. However, this also means they have the most to lose if policies go in the wrong direction.

The solution is to make political engagement accessible and efficient. Rather than demanding hours of daily activism, The Conservative Caucus encourages Gen Z conservatives to commit just a couple hours per week—attending a school board meeting, making phone calls to friends about voter registration, staying informed about key issues, and voting.

Grassroots Action: From School Boards to Congress

Pfaff emphasized that meaningful political change doesn’t start in Washington, D.C.—it starts in local communities, school board meetings, and city council chambers. Nearly every politician serving in Congress today began their career at the local level, learning to navigate political battles and building support among constituents.

The pathway to changing national politics runs through local engagement:

School Board Involvement

School boards have become critical battlegrounds in the culture war, particularly regarding transgender policies, critical race theory, and parental rights. Pfaff urged conservatives to attend school board meetings regularly—typically held once per month—to monitor what’s being discussed and push back against harmful policies.

He cited the example of Loudoun County, Virginia, where a father was arrested and manhandled by police at a school board meeting. That father’s daughter had been raped by a transgender student in a girls’ bathroom, and the school board was actively covering up the incident while pushing forward with transgender bathroom policies.

“How can these school boards hide it? It’s when we’re not involved. School board meetings happen on an irregular basis, once a month typically. Get involved in that. Just take a look at what’s happening there. We do need to change our education system, so that’s one very important place to start.”
— Jim Pfaff

School board involvement doesn’t require extensive time commitments—just a couple hours per month to attend meetings, listen to what’s being discussed, and speak during public comment periods when necessary. But this minimal investment can have enormous impact on protecting children and maintaining community standards.

Running for Local Office

Pfaff encouraged as many people as possible to run for local office—school boards, city councils, county commissions. These positions are often uncontested or face minimal opposition, making them accessible entry points into politics.

Local office provides several benefits:

• Direct impact: Local officials make decisions that immediately affect daily life—school curricula, zoning, local taxes, public safety
• Political training: Local office teaches the skills needed for higher office—public speaking, coalition building, media relations, constituent services
• Proving ground: Success in local office demonstrates competence and builds name recognition for future campaigns
• Bench building: A deep bench of experienced local officials creates a pipeline of qualified candidates for state and federal office

The conservative movement’s weakness has been a shallow bench—too few people with political experience ready to step into higher office when opportunities arise. Building that bench starts with local engagement.

Staying Informed and Engaged

Beyond running for office, every citizen has a duty to stay informed about what’s happening in government. This doesn’t mean obsessively following every political news story, but it does mean paying attention to major issues, understanding how policies affect your community and family, and communicating with elected officials.

Pfaff’s recommended weekly commitment for activists:

• Stay informed: Read trusted news sources, follow key issues, understand what Congress and your state legislature are doing
• Communicate with officials: Call or email your representatives about important votes and issues
• Voter registration: Help friends and family members register to vote, ensure they’re informed about candidates and issues
• Local meetings: Attend school board, city council, or county commission meetings when important issues are being discussed

This level of engagement—roughly two hours per week—is sustainable even for busy professionals and parents. But if millions of conservatives commit to this minimal level of activism, the cumulative effect would be transformative.

The Family Foundation: Why Strong Households Matter

Throughout the discussion, Pfaff repeatedly returned to the foundational importance of strong families as the basis for a free society. This isn’t just conservative talking points—it’s a philosophical principle rooted in political theory going back to John Locke and beyond.

Locke, whose political philosophy heavily influenced America’s Founders, wrote in his “Second Treatise of Government” that all government begins in the family. When citizens create governments, they’re ceding a small portion of family authority to that government, but the family remains the primary unit of society.

“All government begins in the family. When we create governments among men, we’re seeding a little bit of family authority to that government, but the real government starts in the family. We need to understand that principle very well.”
— Jim Pfaff

The Attack on the Family

Pfaff and the podcast hosts discussed how the attack on traditional American values has followed a predictable pattern:

1. Attack on God and religious faith: Removing religion from public life, mocking Christian values, promoting secularism
2. Attack on masculinity: Denigrating traditional masculine virtues, promoting “toxic masculinity” narratives
3. Attack on femininity: The feminist movement’s redefinition of womanhood, devaluing motherhood and homemaking
4. Attack on the nuclear family: Promoting alternative family structures, normalizing divorce, celebrating single parenthood
5. Attack on children: LGBTQ+ ideology in schools, transgender medical interventions, sexualization of children

This progression isn’t accidental—it represents a systematic dismantling of the institutions that have historically formed the foundation of free societies. Each attack weakens the next layer of defense until children are left vulnerable to ideological manipulation and abuse.

The Reversal: Rebuilding from the Ground Up

The good news, according to Pfaff, is that this process can be reversed by working back up through the same layers:

Men reclaiming leadership: Husbands and fathers taking responsibility for their families, providing protection and moral guidance

Strong marriages: Husbands loving their wives sacrificially (Ephesians 5:25), wives respecting their husbands, couples working together as a team

Protecting children: Parents actively involved in their children’s education, protecting them from harmful ideologies, raising them with strong values

Community engagement: Families engaging with their local communities, schools, and churches to create a culture that supports traditional values

Political action: From this foundation of strong families and communities, political engagement becomes natural and effective

The Judeo-Christian Foundation of Freedom

Pfaff argued that America’s concept of freedom is fundamentally rooted in Judeo-Christian ethics, with some influence from ancient Athens and Rome but primarily drawing from biblical principles going back to Moses.

Key principles from this tradition include:

• Property rights: The commandment “Thou shalt not steal” presupposes private property
• Honest courts: The commandment against bearing false witness establishes the importance of truth in legal proceedings
• Just weights and measures: Biblical prohibitions against “tipping the scales” establish principles of fair commerce
• Limited government: The concept that government authority is delegated by the people, not inherent in rulers

The Ten Commandments aren’t just religious rules—they’re the foundation of a functioning civil society. Who wants to live in a country where stealing, lying, and murder are acceptable? These basic moral principles make civilization possible.

The LGBTQ+ Agenda and Free Society

Pfaff distinguished between tolerance and celebration of LGBTQ+ lifestyles. He explicitly stated he doesn’t support “rounding these people into concentration camps”—a free society allows people to make their own choices, even choices others disagree with.

However, he strongly opposed elevating LGBTQ+ relationships to the same status as traditional marriage and family, particularly when it comes to children and education:

“It’s one thing to say we’re not rounding these people into concentration camps—I don’t want to live in a society that does that. But I don’t want to live in a society that says that’s the most important thing, these are the relationships we must value. No. We have no need to value those relationships at a high level, and we need to value the family unit because that’s the only way that societies grow and thrive—they thrive out of the central family unit. No other way to do that in any society in all of human history.”
— Jim Pfaff

This distinction—between tolerating private behavior and celebrating it as society’s ideal—is critical to maintaining both freedom and social stability. Every society in human history has been built on the foundation of stable families producing and raising the next generation. Alternative arrangements may be tolerated in a free society, but they cannot be the foundation of that society.

The Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Connection

The podcast hosts connected these family values to the broader Make America Healthy Again movement. MAHA isn’t just about food and medicine—it’s about a comprehensive reorientation of life toward health, virtue, and sustainability.

This includes:

• Physical health: Eating real food, avoiding processed products, exercising, spending time outdoors
• Financial health: Supporting American businesses, buying from local family-owned companies, building sustainable household economies
• Spiritual health: Returning to faith, attending church, raising children with moral foundations
• Relational health: Strong marriages, involved parenting, multi-generational family connections
• Civic health: Local engagement, school board involvement, community building

The contrast with previous movements like Black Lives Matter is stark. BLM asked people to change their social media profile pictures and donate money—passive, symbolic actions that required no real change in behavior or values. MAHA asks people to fundamentally reorient their entire lives around health, virtue, and community.

This is why MAHA has the potential for genuine, lasting transformation. It’s not a political campaign or a trending hashtag—it’s a comprehensive life change that builds from individual health and family strength outward to community and national renewal.

Key Takeaways

1. Election Integrity Is a Top Priority – The Conservative Caucus is implementing comprehensive election integrity efforts including using National Change of Address data to clean up voter rolls, working to eliminate unsolicited mail ballots, and ending ballot harvesting practices that enable fraud.
2. Unsolicited Mail Ballots Are Constitutionally Questionable – Unlike legitimate absentee ballots requested by individual voters, unsolicited mail ballots sent automatically by states sever the constitutional connection between voters and their ballots, potentially allowing Congress to eliminate them while preserving absentee voting.
3. The RINO Problem Undermines Trump’s Agenda – While Democrats are openly opposed to conservative principles, RINOs within the Republican Party represent a more insidious threat by campaigning conservatively but governing as part of the Washington establishment that has driven America $37 trillion into debt.
4. Gen Z Is the Strategic Focus – The Conservative Caucus is focusing its organizing and outreach efforts on Generation Z—Americans in their 20s and early 30s who are building careers and starting families and therefore have the highest stakes in current policy battles.
5. Local Engagement Is the Foundation – Meaningful political change starts at the local level with school board meetings, city council involvement, and running for local office, not with national politics. Building a deep bench of experienced local officials creates a pipeline for higher office.
6. Strong Families Are the Foundation of Free Society – All government begins in the family, and the systematic attack on God, masculinity, femininity, family, and children must be reversed by rebuilding strong households where husbands lead sacrificially, wives support respectfully, and children are protected and raised with strong values.
7. Constitutional Principles Over Party Loyalty – Allegiance should be to the Constitution and constitutional principles rather than to political parties. The MAGA movement represents a break from the bipartisan “uniparty” that has consistently grown government regardless of which party held power.
8. Two Hours Per Week Can Change America – Meaningful civic engagement doesn’t require full-time activism. Committing just two hours per week to staying informed, attending local meetings, contacting representatives, and helping with voter registration can have enormous cumulative impact if millions of conservatives participate.

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About The Conservative Caucus:
The Conservative Caucus is a grassroots public policy action organization, formed in 1974. Headed by President Jim Pfaff, the Caucus is committed to advancing free enterprise, limited government, and traditional values.

Originally broadcast March 19, 2025 on The Conservative Caucus.