Turning Point Action is a group known for its growing political clout and its violent founder, Charlie Kirk. When Donald Trump takes the stage in Detroit on Saturday, it will be the second time in two weeks that he has headlined an event organized by this group.
The two have been working together for some time, and Trump has been entangled with the controversial analyst who has been in the news recently for claiming that women in their thirties are “not at their prime” for dating and for disclosing the fact that he is hesitant to fly with Black pilots due to diversity, equity, and inclusion goals.
While it has helped Trump’s presidential campaign raise money and organize in swing states, it has also given his team a formidable operational ally.
From a contentious student movement to one of the most influential conservative groups, Turning Point has come a long way from being rejected by senior Republicans at the National Committee.
With tens of millions of dollars going into an ambitious get-out-the-vote effort in three battleground states, Turning Point is putting its operations to the test in the 2024 election. This will have consequences for Trump, the GOP overall, and for Kirk and his group specifically.
“They’re very influential,” remarked Jay Shepard, a Vermont congressman and RNC committee member. Does it work? That is conditional on the unit of measurement you use. Without a doubt, they are a fundraising and messaging behemoth.
He spoke highly of the organization’s many “boots on the ground,” but added, “The real test is always the day after the election, and who wins and who loses.”
For years, Turning Point has been a divisive figure in Republican politics, with millions of people listening in to hear Kirk criticize diversity programs, college campus radicalism, and feminism. Still, they’re not merely a noisy bunch anymore. This year, it spent tens of millions of dollars on an aggressive get-out-the-vote program and filled a few dozen seats on the RNC with allies. Now, it has become a central player in the party apparatus, especially since some older, more traditional activist groups have seen their influence wane.
An advisor to Trump’s campaign, Brian Hughes, called the organization’s field program a “force multiplier” for the Trump team’s resources in crucial swing states. The campaign, the RNC, and outside groups have recently collaborated on this, thanks to a recent advisory opinion from the FEC that permits coordination.
Hughes acknowledged that there will be a funding disparity between Biden and the Democratic National Committee and Trump and the Republican National Committee.
Partnerships like the one with Turning Point enable them to “more efficiently deploy campaign and RNC assets,” he added, while insisting that Trump’s team is expanding its infrastructure in every state that is considered a contest.
This is in sharp contrast to the attitude of the RNC toward Turning Point when the year began, when Kirk publicly demanded the resignation of then-chair Ronna McDaniel, who had long considered the organization an annoyance to be disregarded. Following Turning Point’s January meeting in which it criticized McDaniel’s leadership, Trump demanded that she resign from her position, and the Trump campaign warmly welcomed Turning Point into the RNC. Several members of the RNC were present at the Detroit conference over the weekend, and on Friday night, Turning Point Action hosted an exclusive dinner just for them.
Kirk said no to an interview via his representative.
The two have a “warm” relationship, communicate occasionally, and “share a like mind for the common sense conservative cause,” according to a Trump campaign staffer who was granted anonymity in order to characterize it.
There were other Republicans besides McDaniel who had doubts about Turning Point. Oscar Brock, a Tennessee Republican who has been outspoken in his criticism of Trump but who sided with Turning Point in opposing McDaniel’s reelection as RNC chair in 2023, claimed to have had productive relationships with members of the group, including Tyler Bowyer, a top official for Turning Point and a committeeman from Arizona. Among 18 people charged in Arizona in April for what authorities say is an alternate elector scheme following the 2020 election was Bowyer, who did not run for reelection to the Republican National Committee this year. He is denying any wrongdoing.
When asked about the Turning Point brand, Brock remarked that it seems to be “all about making money.”
“They managed to raise a substantial amount of money, but their strategy is to constantly criticize and attack the Republican Party until they secure a position of power,” Brock stated. “I simply do not believe this is how you function.”
While once-powerful conservative groups have been losing ground, going bankrupt, and leaving empty convention ballrooms bare, Turning Point has emerged as the undisputed leader in Republican action.
In recent years, leadership scandals have rocked once-mighty groups such as the NRA and CPAC. Top anti-abortion groups are now vying for attention as Trump attempts to separate his platform from their projects, while long-time economic policy influencers like the Koch Network and Club for Growth have found themselves in conflict with Trump.
Quickly stepping in to fill the hole is Turning Point. It’s helping the RNC get supporters. A spokeswoman said that the organization has spent tens of millions of dollars on recruiting hundreds of field personnel in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona thus far this year.
Turning Point’s online store sells women’s shirts with sayings like “Got raw milk?” and “Buy me chickens and tell me I’m pretty”—the kind of statements that seem to have struck a chord with a younger conservative generation; thousands of people travel from all over the nation to attend the organization’s well-planned events.
Turning Point has unquestionably taken the lead in the conservative movement, according to Gregg Keller, who was the executive director of the American Conservative Union and CPAC a decade ago.
Turning Point recently held a live “Chase the Vote” town hall with Trump at a megachurch in Phoenix; the event was so popular that the queue of people trying to attend was longer than the facility could accommodate. Notable speakers at the San Antonio Young Women’s Leadership Conference included Lara Trump, Candace Owens, and Megyn Kelly. On the same weekend, staff in Georgia enrolled voters at a rodeo, and field representatives from Turning Point Action were holding kickoff events for the Ohio Faith Coalition outside of Dayton.