Turning Point USA (TPUSA) is a wildfire that Democrats must quell. Headquartered in Phoenix, TPUSA is no longer a fringe organization that can be dismissed. They have a massive presence, primarily on college campuses across the country, and have created a brand that’s made extremism mainstream. Worse, they’ve made these views attractive to younger, lower efficacy voters — particularly young men. Bolstered by right-wing media ecosystems and always on message with MAGA, TPUSA is making extremist right-wing nationalism “cool” to a generation that Democrats have taken for granted. We always assumed Gen-Zs would have a rendezvous with Democratic destiny, not a romance with the far-right. 

With a message of “Resist the Left,” TPUSA targets voting-eligible students under the age of 21. Its operation has replaced traditional youth groups that would have transitioned young adults into political parties. 

We must remember that this generation has never known a world without Trump as a central figure. If they came of age in Republican households, chances are their parents were supportive of Trump throughout his Presidency and January 6th. This is their Republican Party and Trump is what being Republican means. It’s no longer about small government, strong foreign policy, or free-market capitalism. They have no reverence for the age of Goldwater or the compassionate conservatism of George W. Bush because those never existed for them. The pre-2016 political era is as alien to them as this era is to people over the age of 30. If you’re an 18-year-old independent today, you don’t remember 9/11 or the short-lived national unity that stemmed from tragedy. You were two when the economy crashed. You were 10 when Trump was elected. And at 14, your schools were in lockdown as Biden defeated Trump. This generation has experienced only political chaos; in that hurricane’s eye is Trump. He is what they know. 

TPUSA proved vital to helping Republicans run away with voter registration in my home state of Arizona between 2020 and 2024. Their founder has shared publicly how targeting low-information young voters helped move Arizona away from President Biden and Vice President Harris. The organization has three tax-exempt entities and reported $82 million in revenue in 2023. Kirk and his cohorts have become rich in the process, and they spent vigorously in 2024 to help Republicans. For the first time, TPUSA used its giant war chest to target key county races — notably in Maricopa County where Republicans swept. 

There is a growing realization among party faithful in Arizona that TPUSA poses a new challenge coupled with an acknowledgment of diminishing emphasis on strengthening Democratic youth organizations. Former Maricopa County Democratic Party Chair, Steven Slugocki, who was the youngest Maricopa county chair in the state’s history, stated, “We used to utilize young democratic organizations at the county level and on college campuses as a pipeline into the party ecosystem, which hasn’t been prioritized as much in recent years. As Chair I added the ASU Young Democrats and Maricopa Young Democrats to the board to show we couldn’t take youth support for granted. We have to earn young people’s vote like everyone else.” 

Young up-and-coming leaders in the Democratic Party have been working to gain traction and draw attention to TPUSA’s threat. Jacob Marson, Chair of the Keep Arizona Blue Student Coalition, says, “We’ve been seeing TPUSA’s growing influence on college campuses. They are outpacing Democratic youth organizations in terms of reach and scale.” 

Another young leader, Jacob George, Executive Director of Unity Rising and Balsz School District Governing Board Member, said, “I continue to see youth organizations employing the same strategies, but they’re not delivering the results we need. Our vision is to explore a new approach to reconnect and engage with the working class and young voters. People from all walks of life are tired of partisan debates that ignore everyday realities. Democrats must focus on listening to and understanding the working class. We must counter TPUSA’s agenda, money and influence and build a strong democratic coalition that doesn’t die when election time ends.”

It’s true that young voters historically don’t turn out at the same levels as older voters. But they grow up and establish voting behaviors. Democrats can’t risk losing a generation to the right.  While refocusing on bench-building and youth organizations can help Democrats create an alternative to the rise of TPUSA in states across the country, it isn’t the only solution. Perhaps there is an opportunity for the Arizona Democratic Party and Democratic youth organizations across the state to take the lead on countering TPUSA — which has already attempted to remold the AZGOP in its image. 

The counter-effort likely starts with educating donors on where to allocate resources. Democratic and Never-Trumper mega-donors would be wise to coalesce around the shared vision of creating an alternative to Turning Point with unpredictable and attractive branding. It cannot be a liberal bastion susceptible to cries of being just another “WOKE” enterprise. It must be an organization cloaked in the mold of TPUSA but with a reasonable message for young, less engaged voters. It should enforce the notion that values aligned with Democrats represent the key to a more prosperous future:

• Securing the American Dream: Ensuring you can achieve economic prosperity.
• Defending Personal Liberty: Protecting your freedoms from government overreach.
• Pursuing Global Stability so You Thrive: How the future of Ukraine / Tawain impacts you.
• American Promise: Why we are still a beacon for the world and why that matters.

This organization would compete with TPUSA on college campuses, establish chapters and surrogates, and seek to regain electoral territory — especially among young men — through voter registration. Perhaps it could even be based in Phoenix. 

The potential is there. But it will come down to money and willpower to create a bulwark against an ever-growing threat. 

Matt Grodsky is a Partner at Matters of State Strategies. He led communications for the 2022 Adrian Fontes for Arizona Secretary of State Campaign and served as the Communications Director for the Arizona Democratic Party in 2020. He is the author of Righteous Might: How Democrats Turned Arizona Blue and How You Can Flip Your Battleground State. Follow: @mattgrodsky.bsky.social