A trove of bigoted messages among members of the Young Republicans is deepening a deep divide between state groups across the country, further fracturing an organization that has been beset by discord and infighting for years.
Young Republican chapters across the country were divided over how to respond to the text messages, with some groups remaining silent and others immediately denouncing the Telegram group chat revealed by POLITICO that contained racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic epithets.
Much of the conflict over how to respond to the texts stems from the August election over who would lead the National Federation of Young Republicans, the umbrella group for all state chapters commonly known as Young Republicans.
The election essentially split the Young Republicans into two groups: On one side was Hayden Padgett, a Texas Republican and current president of the National Federation of Young Republicans who was running for re-election. On the other side was Peter Giunta, who led an insurgent group within the Young Republicans and who previously clashed with Padgett, in part because he challenged Padgett to be president of the national federation in the August election. Giunta ultimately lost the election.
Giunta, however, was one of the members of the leaked text chain and had posted offensive messages, including “I love Hitler” and “If your pilot is her and she looks ten shades darker than someone from Sicily, it ends there. Shout the word no, no.” Giunta and other members of the group chat also repeatedly used homophobic slurs to refer to Padgett, with Arizona Young Republicans President Luke Mosiman at one point writing “RAPE HAYDEN.”
Giunta, who apologized for the text messages, did not respond to a request for comment and Mosiman declined to comment.
After POLITICO revealed the chats, Young Republican leaders in 23 state groups that supported Padget’s re-election bid quickly released statements condemning the leaked text messages. Several used the statements as an opportunity to demonstrate their loyalty to Padgett: The leaders of Missouri, Alaska and Wisconsin, for example, noted in their statements that they opposed Giunta’s attempt to unseat Padgett in August.
By contrast, many of the state groups that previously supported Giunta remained silent after the leak, with the exception of a handful of states, including Illinois and Georgia, that denounced the texts. Several also appeared to have deleted social media posts expressing support for Giunta’s campaign.
One group that endorsed Giunta and his platform over the summer, the Arizona Young Republican Federation, lashed out at what it called “mob-style condemnation driven by political opportunism or personal agendas.”
“While certain voices within our movement have been quick to condemn, many of these same individuals have overlooked or ignored the deeply troubling rhetoric and actions of the political left, including public celebrations of the tragic deaths of Charlie Kirk and Jay Jones, calling for the death of the family,” the group said in a statement.
The Arizona group, led by Mosiman, also condemned the rhetoric in the Telegram chat, but expressed concern about its “authenticity and context.”
The group also used the controversy as an opportunity to attack Padgett and YRNF leadership, denouncing “a troubling disregard for unity and due process” by national leaders who they said failed to communicate with state leaders before releasing their statement.
When asked about criticism of his leadership, Padgett told POLITICO that any claims of division within the organization are “baseless” and called on Democrats to condemn violent rhetoric from members of his party.
“The YRNF unequivocally condemned the leaked messages in the Politico article, period,” he said. “Other than those in the sticks, all state and local chapters of the Young Republicans are sticking together.”
The fight over how to respond to the texting scandal ultimately exposes deep fissures within the National Young Republican Federation, which has about 14,000 members who have historically helped the GOP develop its ground game during elections. Past presidents include former Trump ally Roger Stone, as well as members of Congress.
A state president, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about internal dynamics, said he was surprised that some YRNF leaders “were not as strong in condemning the comments,” but hoped the organization could move forward as a united group.
California Young Republicans President Ariana Assenmacher, who was Giunta’s running mate in the August election, said in an interview that she was surprised by the rhetoric used in the messages and had no knowledge of or involvement in the group chat.
“I think it’s a very isolated event, and it’s frustrating to see something that is a very small chat being pushed as representing the Young Republicans across the country, which is obviously not the case,” Assenmacher said.
Young Republican leaders from more than three dozen states did not respond to POLITICO’s requests for comment or declined to comment.
YRNF has seen bitter clashes between warring factions since Padgett was elected in 2023, when the opposing slate won less than a fifth of the vote. But Giunta’s campaign this year gained significant traction among state leaders disillusioned with current leadership, winning 47 percent of the vote in August’s national leadership election.
Another state president, who was granted anonymity for fear of retaliation, said he was not surprised by the maliciousness of the messages, but added that “they have never heard anything like this from people I am friends with.”
“I don’t like attacking our people,” they said. “We spent a lot of time fighting each other. The August election was extremely controversial and there were personal attacks on both sides, very, very cruel things.”
The state president added that YRNF has been plagued by division in recent years and that they were “absolutely certain that there are extremely unpleasant things” in messages from Giunta’s opponents.
Valerie McDonnell, New Hampshire’s youngest state lawmaker who resigned as a member of the Young Republicans national committee in August, said she was shocked by the “terrible, repeated language about other members.”
“It wasn’t just an isolated comment. I think it was, over a six-month period, just terrible language repeated about other members,” he said. “Seeing the scope of this was incredible.”
Still, the second state chairman worried that current divisions in the organization after the August leadership election could hamper the organization’s value to the Republican Party in the 2026 midterm elections.
“These are the meanest people I’ve ever met in my life,” the person said of his Young Republican colleagues. “I love this organization so much, and it meant a lot to me when I was in my twenties, and it’s just different. These kids are not the same. I think they grew up in politics and they just saw how Trump treats people and they think that’s how people are treated.”
Samuel Benson, Faith Wardwell and Jason Beeferman contributed to this report.