About the conference

It started at the Roanoke Inn.

The conference began as a conversation between close friends who cared about politics and wanted something that did not yet exist in Washington State: a retreat-style weekend for up-and-coming people serious about public policy.

That conversation happened at the Roanoke Inn on Mercer Island, which is how the conference got its name — and the name has outlasted every other detail of the original plan.

The first conference drew 265 attendees. By its second year, The Seattle Times had already called it the “must-attend event for … Republican leaders” in Washington state. Attendance passed 500 by 2015 and set a record of 600 in 2023. Roanoke now regularly sells out at roughly 600 registrants a year.

It has always been held on the final full weekend of January, and it has always been held in Ocean Shores — a coastal town in January, which does a great deal to filter for people who genuinely want to be there.

What we are for

Washington is a swing state, and the conference is built around that reality. Over three days, attendees:

• Discuss the political trends shaping the state and the country
• Hear from expert speakers on the issues that matter most right now
• Engage the next generation of candidates, staff and activists
• Build relationships that hold up across the political spectrum

The “no-barriers” part is not a slogan. A first-time college attendee and a sitting legislator end up in the same hallway conversation, at the same dinner table, and at the same bar afterwards. That is the whole design.