Turning Point USA Senior Director Josh Thifault joined Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov Dan Patrick in Austin on Monday. (Photo courtesy of Governor Greg Abbott Press Office)
Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick joined Turning Point USA Senior Director Josh Thifault in Austin on Monday to announce a partnership with the far-right organization.
Texas has officially launched a partnership with Turning Point USA—an organization that advocates for far-right, conservative politics co-founded by the late Charlie Kirk—to create chapters on every high school and college campus in the state.
Gov. Greg Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, both Republicans, announced the initiative during a press conference at the Governor’s Mansion on Monday.
Although they did not reveal specific plans that would require schools to start the clubs, Abbott said that he expects “meaningful disciplinary action” to take place against “any stoppage of TPUSA in the great state of Texas.”
“Let me be clear: Any school that stands in the way of a Club America program in their school should be reported immediately to the Texas Education Agency,” Abbott said. “This is about constitutional principles. This is about a restoration of who we are as a country.”
He also claimed that protecting the group’s presence is part of honoring Kirk’s vision and legacy, and ensures that students have access to what he called “essential moral guidance.”
But petitions calling for the removal of Turning Point chapters in public schools across the country have emerged, and higher education faculty in Texas are facing harassment thanks to the organization’s watchlist targeting instructors it claims have views contrary to Turning Point’s.
Although conservatives praise TPUSA as a champion of free speech, critics say that the group not only targets LGBTQ+ people, women, people of color, and educators, but that Abbott and Patrick are focusing on the wrong issues.
“Do you know what I’d like to see on every high school campus in Texas? Water fountains without lead in them. Qualified, certified teachers in every classroom. Gun safety measures that would make sure our kids came home at the end of the day,” said Zeph Capo, president of the Texas American Federation of Teachers. “Instead, the governor and lieutenant governor are directing their resources and the entire state apparatus to put their fingers on the scale for one organization while fighting tooth and nail to keep others off campus,” Capo added.
Republican lawmakers passed Senate Bill 12 earlier this year, which prohibits K-12 public school districts from authorizing or sponsoring student clubs based on sexual orientation or gender identity, meaning LGBTQ+ groups and gay-straight alliances are now banned.
They also passed Senate Bill 17 in 2023, which forced publicly funded colleges and universities across Texas to shut down DEI programs, initiatives, organizations, and training.
“Gov. Abbott praises clubs like these as champions of ‘religious freedom’ and ‘free speech,’ yet in the same breath, he targets student groups he disagrees with,” Felicia Martin, executive director of the Texas Freedom Network, said in a statement.
On a federal level, the US Education Department recently announced a partnership with TPUSA to launch the America 250 Civics Education Coalition, which is “dedicated to renewing patriotism, strengthening civic knowledge, and advancing a shared understanding of America’s founding principles in schools across the nation.”
Abbott’s announcement comes a few weeks after Patrick pledged $1 million of his campaign funds to help put chapters in schools across the state and Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath, who also attended Monday’s event, met with the organization about an official partnership.
Following Kirk’s death on Sept. 10, TPUSA has received over 100,000 requests from high school and college students nationwide to start or join chapters. Patrick said he wants Texas to open more chapters than any other state and more than most countries.
“If the leaders of this state spent half as much time solving problems as they do inventing new problems to be solved, Texas would be the best-run state in the union,” Capo said.
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