According to the report, leaked group chats show young Republican leaders from around the country praising Hitler, telling “jokes” about racism, slavery, rape and the gas chambers of the Holocaust, and routinely using racist and anti-gay slurs to describe their ideological opponents, including Republicans. politiko.
The Telegram chat logs – about 2,900 pages of conversations from January to mid-August 2025 – were obtained by the Washington, D.C.-based bureau as it investigated separate stories about the group’s debt and allegations of financial mismanagement.
The logs, which include messages from young Republican leaders in New York, Kansas, Arizona, and Vermont, document efforts by the Restore YR rebel group to seize control of the National Federation of Young Republicans, a group for conservatives between the ages of 18 and 40, and transform it into an organization that unquestionably supports the actions of the current president, Donald Trump.
Restore YR, led by New York State Young Republicans Chairman Peter Giunta, clashed with rival candidate Grow YR, led by current YRNF Chairman Hayden Padgett. Restore YR accused current leadership of not supporting Trump enough and even functioning against he. At the Young Republicans National Convention in August, the group’s efforts were unsuccessful, and GrowYR’s Padgett narrowly won reelection as YRNF chair.
Many of the members of the Telegram chat work in government and Republican politics, including one state senator, and several are currently facing repercussions from the breach, including Bobby Walker, the New York State Young Republicans chairman who was barred from joining New York State House candidate Peter Oberacker (R-Merrick)’s campaign.
said New York State Rep. Mike Riley (R-Staten Island), who worked for Restore YR leader Giunta. politiko The time for Republican operatives to work with Riley is “over.”
The chats served as a kind of “safe space” for young Republican operatives, Telegram records show, where participants freely used blunt language, racist and anti-gay slurs, and joked about taboo topics in what they believed were private forums among ideological allies.
Records show that members called black people “monkeys” and “watermelon people,” made off-topic jokes about rape, gas chambers, and driving political opponents to suicide, and routinely used slurs like “shit,” “retards” and “the N-word.”
According to politikoFormer Kansas Young Republican Party Vice Chairman William Hendricks used variations of the n-word more than a dozen times in the chat. He also made racist remarks about black customers, writing, “Brother is ordering food at a chicken restaurant. Would you like some watermelon and cool food with it?”
Hendricks also wrote that despite their political differences, he was drawn to Missouri’s Young Republican Organization because “Missouri hates shit.”
politiko Giunta was the most prominent voice in the chat promoting racist and bigoted messages and making light of Hitler and the Holocaust, some of which were liked by other members, the report said.
In one exchange, Kansas Young Republicans Chairman Alex Dwyer told Giunta that members of the Michigan Young Republicans had promised the group that they would “vote for the most right-wing person” to lead YRNF.
“That’s great. I love Hitler,” Gunta replied, to which Dwyer responded with a smile.
In a February conversation, Giunta praised the Orange County, New York, Teenage Republican Party, which is part of a national organization. teenage republican network—said he was satisfied with the ideological leanings of its younger members.
“They support slavery and shit like that. Megabase,” he wrote, using an online term for approval of bold or controversial ideas, regardless of how others might react.
Orange County Republican Party Chair Courtney Canfield Greene said. politiko The party was disappointed that its group of teens was mentioned in the chat and tried to distance volunteers from YRNF and New York State Young Republicans.
“Everyone who votes against him will be sent to the gas chamber,” Giunta wrote in a June chat about his campaign for YRNF chairman against Padgett.
“Can we fix the shower? Gas chambers don’t fit Hitler’s aesthetic,” replied Joseph Marinho, a former New York Young Republican adviser.
“I’m ready to watch people burn right now,” responded Annie Kaykaty, a member of the New York State National Committee.
Members of the group were particularly vicious towards rivals sympathetic to Grow YR’s position, especially its leader Hayden Padgett.
“So you mean Hayden Fa***t wrote the resolution himself?” Giunta asked the group about National Young Republicans Chairman in late May.
Giunta also hurled anti-gay slurs, insults, and threats at young Republicans in the state who appeared to support Paget over him.
“Minnesota, shit,” he wrote. “Arkansas – you inbred cowboys…Maryland – you fat stinky Jews…Rhode Island – you traitors, I will eradicate them from this earth.”
He added that he intended to make one of his competitors “unable to live on the competition floor.”
Mr. Giunta and Mr. Walker later issued a statement apologizing for their comments while questioning whether the chat logs had been altered.
Meanwhile, Padgett criticized Restore YR members’ chats.
“The Young Republican National Federation condemns all forms of racism, anti-Semitism, and hatred,” Padgett said in a statement. “Such behavior is completely inconsistent with our values and has no place in our organization or the broader conservative movement.”
New York State Senate Minority Leader Rob Ortto (R-North Tonawanda) and Representative Elise Stefanik condemned the anti-Semitic and racist comments in the chat as “indefensible,” “heinous” and “unacceptable,” and called on those involved to resign from their positions of power within the organization.
Vice President J.D. Vance broke with other Republicans who condemned the chat, arguing in X that Restore YR members were being held to a different standard than former Virginia Del. Jay Jones (D-Norfolk), the Democratic attorney general candidate for Virginia, who was visiting Japan. under fire He allegedly sent a text message to a Republican colleague saying he wanted to shoot the then-Republican House speaker and harm his children.
“This is far worse than what was said in a college group chat or the person who said he could be Virginia’s AG,” Vance wrote in parallel to Jones’ message to Rep. Carrie Coyner (R-Chesterfield). “I refuse to participate in pearl clutching when those in power call for political violence.”
But a review of the chat messages of young Republicans shows that they too were aware of how controversial their comments could be.
Walker seemed to be most aware of the potential repercussions, writing, “If this conversation were leaked, we would be thoroughly cooked.”
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Source: Metro Weekly – www.metroweekly.com
