On the first day of the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) 2026, the microphones were handed over for a bit to two of Conservatism’s next generation. Townhall’s own Kurt Schlichter sat down with Nick Shirley, who recently exposed massive amounts of fraud in Minnesota, and the 25-year-old Mayor of Crosslake, Minnesota, Jackson Purfeest, who is also a college student.
Schlichter started by pointing out something that might be pretty obvious to seasoned CPAC attendees, and that is that Nick Shirley is carrying on the vision that the late Andrew Breitbart, as a young conservative citizen journalist, began. Schlichter rightly stated that the conservative movement is “passing on the torch” to guys like Shirley and Purfeest.
Welcome to California
— Nick shirley (@nickshirleyy) March 17, 2026
At just 23 years old, Nick Shirley is already a seasoned veteran of citizen journalism. He said he began making videos at the age of 15, and would make one video a week. Jackson Purfeest said that what is happening in Minnesota is that there is so much fraud taking place that it is “sucking up” money that could be going to real people in need in outstate parts of Minnesota, adding that in some cases, some smaller cities could actually go under due to the weight of the fraud going on in MN.
Shirley stated that obviously, leaders in Minnesota were not happy to see him come along and expose places, such as the “Quality Learing Center,” and even encouraged residents to protest – though riot over Shirley exposing the fraud that has been left to fester for decades. He continued, saying that it is the responsibility of regular Americans to call out the fraud and confront it head-on when they see it.
The fact that Democrats are fighting voter ID to the nth degree was also discussed. Shirley brought up the fact that in Gov. Gavin Newsom’s California, it is illegal to even ask someone for voter ID when they go to the polls. All on the panel agreed that much of the fraud and corruption being uncovered is being fomented by the Democrat Party.
🚨OMG — Crosslake, MN mayor says last week a third audit was conducted of Minnesota and they discovered 14 HIGH-RISK programs that could estimate another BILLION dollars in fraud alone!
“Fraud is impacting every citizen in the state of Minnesota and city budgets.”
Wow. pic.twitter.com/YaewIr9sOZ
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) February 9, 2026
Purfeest went on to say that for years, “Minnesotans just thought the fraud would be gotten under control.” He credited former Minnesota Congressman Jason Lewis (R) for being the first to bring attention to the large amount of fraud being perpetrated in Minnesota, and that whistleblowers as far back as 2018 were also calling it out. Now, many Minnesotans just feel like “learing centers and fraud” are just “normal life” for the state’s citizens. Shirley pointed out that Democrats steal the taxpayers’ money and “act like it’s no big deal.”
Jackson Purfeest also stated that “all fraudsters need to be arrested,” and, if needed, “deported.”
Kurt Schlichter shared a hard truth: in today’s volatile political climate, this generation of conservative citizen journalists faces very different obstacles than in Andrew Breitbart’s day. But guys like Shirley and Purfeest will inspire others of their generation to also take up the mantle. Shirley encouraged everyone to “be the person that stands up in your own community so we can get politicians like [MN Gov.] Tim Walz to drop out of races.”
The conservative citizen journalism movement is in extremely good hands with this next generation of young people coming on the scene, and absolutely taking up the mantle and the vision that Andrew Breitbart began.
🚨BREAKING: Gavin Newsom MELTS DOWN after House Oversight Chair James Comer PUMMELS him for attacking Nick Shirley for exposing fraud in California:pic.twitter.com/u8DY3Yt40a
— Morse Report (@MorseReport) March 25, 2026
RedState will provide continuing coverage of CPAC 2026, live from Dallas, TX, this week. Stay tuned, readers!
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