Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich said state and local leaders should embrace “Trumpism,” and he urged congressional Republicans to ensure legislative progress or risk losing power to Democrats come the 2018 elections.

“I think that making America great again has to be, in many ways, a state and local challenge,” Gingrich said in a Denver speech on Friday. “How do we make Kentucky great again? How do we make Iowa great again? And inside the states, how do help Des Moines become great again, Louisville or a school board?”

Gingrich said that means emulating President Donald Trump’s ways of cutting costs and using “commons sense,” describing the president as possibly “the most effective conservative — functionally — in our lifetime.”

The Georgian, who advised Trump’s campaign and has worked with him since he took office, was speaking at the final day of the American Legislative Exchange Council conference downtown, a gathering of conservative lawmakers, thought leaders and lobbyists from across the U.S. His talk centered around his work trying to get the GOP and the nation as a whole to appreciate the president, touting his new book — “Understanding Trump” — a signed copy of which was given to everyone in attendance.

Read more at denverpost.com.