Turning Point USA

• 1. Introduction

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  Turning Point USA is an American conservative nonprofit that works on high school, college and university campuses. Each of its paid workers is supposed to make at least 1,500 student contacts per semester. The organization says it has chapters at over 850 campuses, and those chapters register students to vote. The New York Times has called it the nation's "pre-eminent conservative youth organization." Student senates, former staff members, rival conservative groups and watchdog organizations have challenged its methods in public. How did a nonprofit grow to this scale? Who pays for it, and what does it ask of the students it recruits? And why do its lists, summits and campaign ties draw such loyalty from supporters and such fierce opposition from critics?

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• 2. Founders and Successors

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  In May 2012, Charlie Kirk, then 18, gave a speech at Benedictine University's Youth Government Day. Bill Montgomery, a retired marketing entrepreneur and Tea Party activist, was impressed. He urged Kirk to put off college and work full-time in political activism. A month later, the day after Kirk finished high school, the two launched Turning Point USA as a section 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

  Montgomery became Kirk's mentor and handled the paperwork behind the scenes. He often called himself a co-founder. Neither the group nor Kirk officially recognized that title. Montgomery served as secretary and treasurer until April 2020. He was born in 1940 and died in July 2020 of complications from COVID-19.

  At the 2012 Republican National Convention, Kirk met the Republican donor Foster Friess. Kirk persuaded him to give what was described as a "five-figure" donation. Friess then joined the advisory council, alongside Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence Thomas. By 2019, Barry Russell, president and CEO of the Independent Petroleum Association of America, was also a key advisor.

  Kirk served as CEO, chief fundraiser and public face of the group from its founding. Michael Beckel of the funding watchdog Issue One found that donors often used "dark money vehicles to keep identities out of the limelight."

  On the 10th of September 2025, Kirk was assassinated at Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah. He was speaking at an event on the American Comeback Tour, which the organization sponsored. His annual salary was estimated at "more than US$407000."

  Eight days later, the board unanimously elected his widow, Erika Kirk, as CEO. She vowed to make Turning Point "the biggest thing this nation has ever seen."

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• 3. Campus Playbook

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  Student volunteers for Turning Point USA promote their ideas through themed campaigns with names like "The Healthcare Games," "Game of Loans" and "iCapitalism." The group states its mission as "to identify, educate, train, and organize students to promote the principles of freedom, free markets, and limited government." It supports the NRA and fossil fuels and opposes Black Lives Matter. The Washington Post wrote that the group builds membership on "making provocative claims and publicly inciting outrage." Kirk called universities "islands of totalitarianism."

  The group has also tried to shape who runs student governments. Targeted schools included Ohio State University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Maryland. At Maryland, conservative candidates withdrew from student elections after failing to report help from the organization. Leaked records from 2017 showed that the group had funneled thousands of dollars into student governments.

  The New Yorker described a private brochure given only to donors. It laid out a plan to capture most student-government posts at 80% of Division 1 N.C.A.A. schools. Turning Point USA said it had helped more than 50 conservatives become student-body presidents. Politico found that success rate considerably overstated. Some students the group claimed to have backed said they had never spoken to anyone who worked for it.

  Recognition as an official campus club has been a recurring fight. In 2016, student senators at Drake University denied recognition, citing a "hateful record," "aggressive marketing" and "an unethical privacy concern." At Hagerstown Community College, a student's lawsuit led the school to rewrite its rules on duplicate groups. Santa Clara University's student government voted no in February 2017, and the vice provost for student life overturned that vote by March. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's student union board voted against a chapter on the 18th of January 2018. In 2021, Wichita State University's student court unanimously ruled that a denial had been unconstitutional.

  Some clashes went to court. In 2016, the chapter at Grand Valley State University sued the school's trustees over its Speech Zone policy, citing the 1st and 14th Amendments, and later reached a settlement. In October 2017, Kent State members protested campus "safe space" culture while dressed in diapers. After widespread ridicule online, chapter president Kaitlin Bennett resigned.

  In April 2023, former NCAA swimmer Riley Gaines spoke at a chapter event at San Francisco State University, campaigning to exclude trans women from women's sports. Protesters met her afterward, and campus police escorted her to a computer room, where they stayed for several hours.

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• 4. Watchlists

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  On the 21st of November 2016, Turning Point USA's Professor Watchlist first appeared online. Kirk said it was dedicated to documenting professors who "discriminate against conservative students, promote anti-American values, and advance leftist propaganda in the classroom." More than 250 professors were listed as of 2016. Politico reported many inaccuracies. Some professors were listed for things they did not exactly say or do, and others for rudeness to students or "clever remarks" about Trump.

  A group director named Lamb told The New York Times that the site was "simply aggregating" academics already covered in news reports. He called it "a beautiful example of freedom of speech."

  In October 2023, a two-member Turning Point USA crew followed English instructor David Boyles across Arizona State University, repeatedly asking accusatory questions. Boyles was a co-founder of Drag Story Hour Arizona and was on the list. After he appeared to push away a camera, he was pushed onto concrete from behind. He described the wounds to his face as "relatively minor." The university's president said the organization was at fault for harassment and violence, while its social media posts blamed Boyles. The president added that he had earlier asked to have ASU professors removed from the list and received no reply.

  On the 2nd of October 2025, the Rutgers University chapter launched a petition calling for the firing of professor Mark Bray, labeling him "Dr. Antifa." Bray replied, "I've never been part of an antifa group, and I'm not currently." After Fox News publicized the petition, he received death threats and his home address was made public. He and his wife, who also teaches at Rutgers, fled with their two young children to Spain, where Rutgers said they could teach remotely. The chapter denied supporting doxxing or harassment.

  In 2021, the group added a second list, the School Board Watchlist. It publishes names and photos of school board members who backed mask mandates, mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations, or particular approaches to teaching history, race, gender and sex.

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• 5. Summits and Screens

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  In 2025, the Student Action Summit drew its largest turnout ever, with 5,000 attendees at the Tampa convention center. Speakers included Tom Homan, Kristi Noem, Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump Jr. and Tucker Carlson, and Kirk addressed the crowd. The group also runs the Young Women's Leadership Summit, the Young Black Leadership Summit and the Young Latino Leadership Summit. It provided lodging and some meals for attendees, who could apply for travel stipends.

  AmericaFest launched in December 2021 as a four-day conference that mixed conservative speakers with country music acts. Kyle Rittenhouse, recently acquitted of murder charges in the Kenosha shooting, received a standing ovation. The 2023 edition drew 13,000 attendees, the group's largest conference to that point. In December 2024, it moved to Phoenix, with Donald Trump among the keynote speakers.

  At the 2025 edition, Tucker Carlson and, to a lesser extent, Nick Fuentes clashed with Ben Shapiro over Israel. On the fourth day, Nicki Minaj appeared as a surprise speaker, interviewed on stage by Erika Kirk.

  The Young Women's Leadership Summit has run for ten years, with prayer circles, brunches and forums on "God's design in your career." The Times described its topics as light on policy and heavy on "dating, parenting and nutrition advice." The 2025 edition, at the Gaylord Texan resort, drew over 3,000 women. The NRA was its headline sponsor in 2017 and 2018. By 2018, according to the Times, it had become an "ultra-Trumpian event."

  Media reaches further than any hall. In October 2020, Kirk began a daily three-hour talk show on Salem Media's channel "The Answer." That year the group's online audience grew from an average of 83,000 to 111,000, and a dozen social accounts together passed 10 million followers. In September 2021, it launched the streaming show "Turning Point Live," hosted by John Root. Its film "A Long Walk in Socialism" won a Rocky Mountain Emmy Award in 2021.

  In 2022 came the docuseries "Border Battle," with Salem Media Group. In 2025, the group co-produced "Identity Crisis" with The Daily Wire. In 2026, it scheduled its All-American Halftime Show as a rival broadcast to the Super Bowl LX halftime show headlined by Bad Bunny.

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• 6. Money and Elections

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  Turning Point USA's revenues grew from $78,000 in 2013 to $55.8 million in 2021. Between July 2016 and June 2017, it raised more than $8.2 million, up from $4.3 million the previous year. Expenses doubled to $8.3 million that year, and $4.3 million of it went to employment costs. In 2019, reported donor revenue was $28.5 million, and Kirk's compensation was $292,423. Named donors include Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus, former Illinois governor Bruce Rauner, Richard Uihlein and the Donors Trust.

  In August 2021, the group circulated a "2021 Investor Prospectus" seeking $43 million. David Armiak of the Center for Media and Democracy said its language echoed white nationalist rhetoric, citing a line about "a turning back of the clock 500 years."

  In 2016, Kirk addressed the Republican National Convention. In a Wired interview there, he said he "was not the world's biggest Donald Trump fan" but would vote for him. Afterward he helped with travel and media arrangements for Donald Trump Jr.

  Former employees and student volunteers alleged that senior staff, including Kirk and Ginni Thomas, coordinated with the Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio campaigns. One claim involved emails with two officials at a pro-Cruz super PAC. Another involved a voicemail asking two students to distribute over 200 Cruz placards in Wisconsin. A former Florida employee alleged that personal details of over 700 student supporters went to a Rubio campaign employee.

  In October 2016, students at a Fox News event with Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and Lara Trump were told their expenses would be covered. Tax experts said this might have violated the group's tax-exempt status. The group disputed that.

  In July 2020, TPUSA attorney Sally Wagenmaker rejected campaign finance allegations in an article published by ProPublica. Kirk had called talk of a secret plan "completely ludicrous and ridiculous."

  On the 4th of January 2021, Kirk tweeted that Turning Point Action would send more than 80 buses to the "Stop the Steal" rally in Washington, D.C. The group sent seven buses carrying about 350 people. It also channeled money to several rally speakers, including Kimberly Guilfoyle. It did not organize or join the march to the Capitol. Kirk later deleted the tweet and called entering the Capitol "bad judgment" and "not wise."

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• 7. Critics and Disputes

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  In December 2017, Jane Mayer's article in The New Yorker quoted former staff describing a workplace with tension, some of it racial. One African-American woman said she had been the only person of color on staff when hired in 2014. The article also reported a text message from Crystal Clanton, then national field director for five years, expressing racial hatred. Kirk said the group acted "within 72 hours" of learning of it. Clarence Thomas, who later hired Clanton, said, "I know Crystal Clanton and I know bigotry."

  In May 2018, a leaked memo from Young America's Foundation warned its members not to associate with Turning Point USA. It accused the group of exaggerating its chapter count and taking credit for others' events. It also pointed to the Kent State diaper protest as "humiliating." The radio host Joe Walsh resigned from the board in June 2018. He said, "You can't advance Trump and advance these issues."

  In 2019, the Anti-Defamation League called the group "alt-lite." It reported that leaders and activists had made racist or bigoted comments. The Southern Poverty Law Center's Hatewatch documented links to white supremacists in 2018.

  In May 2019, communications director Candace Owens resigned. She had made remarks about Hitler in December 2018, and some chapters called for her to go. She later said leftist journalists had mischaracterized them. Also that month, high school outreach director Kyle Kashuv resigned after former classmates threatened to publish screenshots of racially inflammatory language. He later called his comments "callous and inflammatory." In February 2019, the group had hired Benny Johnson as chief creative officer, after BuzzFeed fired him for plagiarism in 2014.

  Critics came from the right too. In November 2019, the Dartmouth Review said the group promoted Kirk and Trump before conservative values. During the Culture War college tour that autumn, alt-right and far-right members asked pointed questions on Israel and LGBTQ issues.

  In July 2022, neo-Nazis appeared outside the Student Action Summit in Tampa and were not let in. Joy Behar of The View falsely said the group had invited them. The group issued a cease and desist request with a deadline of the 27th of July, and the show retracted and apologized.

  In 2021, Kirk compared Biden's vaccination efforts to an "Apartheid-style open air hostage situation." Montgomery had died of COVID-related complications the year before. A spokesperson said the group was not anti-vaccine and wanted people to "have the freedom to choose."

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• 8. Branches at Home and Abroad

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  Turning Point Action is the campaign arm, organized as a 501(c)(4). Tyler Bowyer became chief operating officer of the main group in 2017 and left in 2022 to serve full-time as COO of Turning Point Action. The group calls itself a "completely separate organization," but Forbes noted both share a founder and branding. Tax documents show Kirk received income from both. During the 2020 campaign, Turning Point Action paid teenagers in Arizona to post its content without disclosing the tie.

  In 2021, Kirk founded TPUSA Faith to recruit pastors into political issues, with a budget of $6.4 million. Rob McCoy, Kirk's Pentecostal pastor in the Calvary Chapel Association, is credited with helping launch it. Also in 2021, the group announced Turning Point Academy, an online school for families seeking an "America-first education." A curriculum deal with StrongMind collapsed when the subcontractor, the Freedom Learning Group, ended its contract on learning the client was TPUSA.

  On the 22nd of July 2025, the group announced Club America, a network of high school chapters hosting conservative speakers once a semester. On the 27th of October 2025, Florida governor Ron DeSantis said he would partner with it. Texas governor Greg Abbott said he would expand it to every Texas high school. Its website claims more than 1,200 chapters.

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